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you're right about Facebook eventually dying, but you're crazy if you think "social media" is going the way of the buffalo.

The guy has to say what he's said because, well, he's got to somehow defend the job he's doing of moving Louisiana along in the world...or, not. The thing is, the upside to UNT if we become a regular winner is higher than Louisiana because there are more people and media outlets in the area to take notice and participate. Louisiana, because of its location, is limited. That's not a knock on the program. You just have to face reality: (1) The traditional powers are going to get state and natoinal press, win, lose or draw (Alabama, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, etc.) (2) Those in conferences with the traditional powers are going to get noticed when they occassionally beat the them (Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Purdue, Illinois, Arizona, Ole Miss, etc.). They are probably always going to be a rung lower from a marketing standpoint; but, being in the same conference as traditional powers gives them a shot. Baylor beating OU and Texas meant the Heisman for Robert Griffin even though both had, for their programs, off years. Being in the aura of OU and Texas gives the Baylors of the world at least a chance to get into headlines every now and then. (3) The overacheivers are going to get notice because they do big things despite bigger obstacles. South Florida, for winning and getting into a BCS conference within five years of their first Division I game. Boise State, with a school in the middle of nowhere, beating OU in the Fiesta Bowl less than a decade after being in the Big West. That kind of thing. (4) Everyone else. Lousiana is in this category. We are currently in this categroy. These schools have been in conferences with the traditional powers. They haven't overachieved. The schools likely didn't put the emphasis on athletics in needed in order to keep up, then woke up in the 21st Century as afterthoughts in the money-chasing game. What separates us from Louisiana and like situated schools is DFW. Our proximity to it and numerous alumni in it give us a strong opportunity to gain recognition and media notice and dollars quicker. Louisiana would truly have to do it the way of Boise State...just decide to dedicate everything to it, and start winning big, big games against traditional powers. Is it fair? No. But, in 1952, 1962, 1972...no one could see what this could become. It took OU and Georgia in the early to mid 80s to recognize that programs could be branded and make a bunch of money from their own brands. In the 90s, the big bowls and conferences with traditional powers banded together to grow and spread the wealth...among themselves. We now have a situation so ridiculous that San Diego State might be in the same conference with Connecticut. Crazy. So, I see why the Louisiana AD says what he says. To him, I say, there is no rest day. Keep plowing ahead. Louisiana will get no breaks. UNT got virtually no breaks either. Our geography helped us to a degree in the minds of the decision makers. You will have to win crazy big and ridiculously often, like Boise State, to overcome the same odds we were fighting. Good luck.

I'm guessing that his article is more about explaining to fans and Alums of LaLa why he was not successful in getting LaLa into CUSA, than sour grapes. I've said this many times before......I would much rather have LaLa in CUSA than UTSA.

do they even read?

We know not everyone stays for the band. You know there are people who stay to watch the band. Post is kinda pointless, IMO, and makes you look like an ass. I know you're not.

Yeah, a bit of sour grapes from the UL AD but can you really blame him? UL has a great program that many think should have been a CUSA invite. Yet.....where our over 200,000 UNT exes living in DFW really count is that they probably have at least 2 TV's in their homes and many of them would watch North Texas whether they ever show up in Denton or not. This is the new "market driven'" NCAA and is why North Texas needs to (with warp speed) start getting some winning decades under its belt and SRO crowds at Apogee Stadium. Also, this is where our enormous alumnus/Ex students numbers help North Texas and sealed the deal for our CUSA invite. Of course, if all our DFW exes showed up at Apogee at one time we'd have one helluva' traffic jam on both Texas inter-states that lead right to Apogee Stadium from Dallas and Fort Worth. (Likely not to happen unless the Pope makes a Game Day appearance) . What I've Observed Since 1973: When North Texas wins the DMN and FWST give us ample coverage for our not being those 2 city's respective home team. That has been what I've observed since my first ever game as a UNT student back in 1973 when St. Fry coached his first game as North Texas HFC. NOTE: Both DFW major papers give North Texas far more coverage than the DRC gives SMU and TCU. In the 1994 Mean Green football season when North Texas was in its campaign to re-gain our NCAA D1-A status North Texas was all over the Metroplex sports media, ie, the DFW local TV sportscasts and (then) newbie KTCK 1310 "The Ticket" which has enough UNT alums on that radio station's payroll whereas they could form their own NT Exes chapter. (Anyone else think CUSA Commish' Banowsky is aware of our alumnus presence at KTCK 1310 "The Ticket")? When North Texas loses and loses often, the DFW papers do not cover North Texas. Hell, do we even want them to? Well, of course, we'd most all say yes in spite of losing. UNT's ace in the hole with the Dallas Morning News is that the Denton Record/Chronicle and DMN are both owned by the Belo Corporation and our UNT beat writer one Brett Vito has his Game Day coverage in both Denton and Dallas sports pages because of that. Just win................and have lights out attendance while winning. That is what got former Big West conference mate Boise State and 2 of the Florida upstarts where they are today. GMG!

Sun Belt will soon be the old Southland Conference? Waiting for Sam Houston, SFA, and Abilene Christian to join the Belt. It's like we drove away from the coast as the hurricane was on the horizon. Good-bye, Belt!

More people read page 8 of the DMN and FWST than the front page of The Lafayette Cajun Times. That's all that matters. End of story.

Did you read that on Google?

I wish them well, but thank goodness we are out of the Sun Belt and away from Karl Benson. I feel for ULL, ASU, MTSU, etc...

So, they still read print newspapers in Louisiana?

Funny how large media markets are always downplayed by teams not in them. ULL did great last year in football, both in attendance and records; but historically they are just a blip in a LSU dominated region. No one thinks that NT or any other college controls the DFW, Houston, fill in the blank market. NT does have a presence in the DFW market which has great value. I have seen a lot of comments and this article kind of hints at it, that Denton really isn't all that close to Dallas and Fort Worth. It makes you wonder if any of these people have ever been to this area. It is one big mass of people and structures and the only way to tell one municipality from another is the city limit signs. Also the biggest growth areas are to the North of Dallas and Fort Worth.

Did you fed the troll? You know more about formatting and colors than I'll ever figure out. Surely you found the ignore feature! Unless the troll is quoted, he never appears in my reading. Don't feed trolls!

AD Stull seems to be singing a different tune than he was about a month ago. Amazing what a sit-down come to Jesus talk from school president to AD can sometimes do to change an AD's tune at times. GMG!

Binford went on to explain: "The thrust of it is--we didn't stand firm. We didn't grab hold of the issue and own it. Oversight has to be a habitual thing. We've got to meet it head on. Forcefully, if necessary. We have to have someone looking our effort over--going up and down, up and down, over and over again--everywhere. But we can't be embarrassed about it. There's nothing for us to be ashamed of. This is a learning experience for us. Failure is not acceptable, and we've got to work it harder next time. Get into a rhythm and do what we need to do...Oh God it's hot in here..."

The Orlando Sentinel has ranked all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in the country. The Sentinel staff will take a closer look at a new team daily, counting backward from No. 120 to our projected No. 1 team. We will not be including the four teams the NCAA lists as still reclassifying to the Football Bowl Subdivision level. today they posted #84 - Washington State. UNT, FIU, ArkSt and WKY have not appeared on the countdown listed yet. http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_college/2012/05/college-football-countdown-washington-state.html

Do y'all know how to post videos to Facebook?

As both of the Marching Band Directors are mentors of mine (and they're friends too)... I would not want to miss that first half-time between the two bands. It will literally be one of the most epic half times ever.

The local media only covered us when we were winning for two reasons. 1) When winning we were never a threat to the local dallas team because it was only the Missouri Valley, Southland, Big West or Sun Belt. Who cares? Perception. And second it was used more as a slap in the face to smu in an effort to motivate them. " the Sun Belt may suck but at least they are winning it." IMHO I dropped my subscription to the dmn almost 4 years ago and I told them exactly why.

The population of the DFW metroplex is waaay larger than 1,240,499. The 2009 estimate was 6,153,237 or about 50% larger than the entire state of Louisiana. The DFW metroplex consists of nine counties with populations as follows: Dallas 2,412,827; Tarrant 1,750,091; Collin 762,010; Denton 636,557; Johnson 153,630; Ellis 148,186; Parker 111,176; Kaufman 100,527; and Rockwall 77,633. I would expect the official 2010 census to be a little larger since the area is still growing. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette should be a little embarrassed at the sour grapes ranting of their uninformed AD. Louisiana has had their share of failings but they seem to have corrected their problems for now. They are a great conference mate with maybe the finest tailgating in the country. They have a lot of pluses and although they are not in a large population area if they keep winning and getting the crowds that they are capable of they will advance...either themselves or the Sun Belt.

The population of the DFW Metroplex in 2010 was Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area 2010: 6,371,773 Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/dallas/1204472-2000-2010-dfw-population-growth-statistics.html#ixzz1vcpQLA00

http://ballislife.com/cute-video-of-the-day-little-girl-hates-when-players-fg-travel/

The combined population of Baton Rouge (ULL doesn't deliver this market), Lafayette and Lake Charles (McNeese) is slightly larger than Arlington, TX. In 2007, the population of the DFW Metroplex was 1,240,499, and we have as many alumni living in the area as there are citizens of Lafayette, LA. I understand his frustration, and they have great fans, but I would bet ULL doesn't deliver a 1/10 of the Baton Rouge (229,493) population.

I wonder how much it would cost to rent the Jerry Dome?

The Dallas media market growth in one year is greater than entire LALA media market.

I think it's funny how you believe that UNT would have "loved to been asked to join" the Big East. There's no doubt that prior to all the realignment, that we would have wished for an invite, but in hindsight, I am very glad we weren't. That conference is potentially 1 move away from not existing. Simply put, the Big East is the WAC of the BCS.

They would use the jerry dome just like the utsa runners are doing in San Antonio!

No reason for this except for bitter spitting on our behinds as he watches us exit towards CUSA. It makes it easier to say goodbye. Have fun with UTA and your band of new FBS brothers.

Perhaps. But, I look at the start-from-scratch programs like South Florida. They had a coach with skins on the wall, but far fewer than Larry. But, he had support from the school, connections, and willing cash. UTSA has support from the school, Coker has connections, and they are getting cash. Remember, they were on Longhorn Network more than the Longhorns last year. I'm not saying I'm happy about UTSA being able to be in the same conference as us without "paying their dues." I am saying, when you have committed people and cash all up and down the line, good things will happen for you sooner rather than later. Look at their home schedule. They've got San Jose State and Utah State on back-to-back weekend. Yeah, it's not Notre Dame and Texas, but it ain't Texas Southern either. I'm just saying they have been getting some things done behind the scenes with an eye on "big" instead of just hoping for it. I realize their schedules will change due to realignment, but look at who they had home games from in the future - Oklahoma State, Arizona, Arizona State, Virginia, Baylor. As I've said before, like it or not, San Antonio is an attractive trip to people who haven't been there 100 times and don't already realize the Alamo ain't a big deal, and there is better Tex-Mex elsehwere in the state. To Virginia people, the Alamo will be exciting history, and the Tex-Mex more spicy and exciting than whatever crap passes for Mexican up there. They got decent programs to commit to go there before they've even played one down as an FBS school! Why? They know where they want to go, and they are going there. And, old man Larry Coker, well respected in the coaching community, is a big part of that. San Antonio is a natural tourist draw, and Coker is a nice guy who hasn't burned bridges along the way. We pooh-pooh UTSA at our own peril. Tulsa will die on the vine because their DFW recruiting will be diminished. The Roadrunners will be our rival. We need to realize it now, accept it, and most of all, prepare for it.

I know I'm not the only one who read the list 8 times over just to be sure we weren't there

The biggest thing this all means for me is that we shouldn't lose any head to head battles for any Texas prospects to any Belt schools, Tulane and La. Tech. It seems every year this is who we were competing against.

Then...

Not sure why Scout has Boone Feldt classified as a guard, because I believe Rivals had him as a top 20 Center in the country.

I agree. It is definitely hit or miss with most transfers. That is where good coaching evaluation comes in.

UTSA and Texas State will battle for recruits that Texas and TAMU dont take. Besides, one of the big turn offs when my son was being recruited was they have not even broke ground on facilities. They currently use a high school to practice. Yes, they have great plans, but they are only plans. Tulsa and Arkansas St will be hurt in recuiting here in DFW with us moving to CUSA along with the new facilities. Tulsa lives in DFW during recruiting season.

My post was confusing which isn't rare, I was referring to conference affiliation; not the overall status of the program. I also think that you are correct in that the dedication and approach to recruiting is substantially better under McCarney, but I don't think the results are yet. Yes, it is better than dying programs under both Dodge and Dickey in their last few years but I don't see any significant improvement over early Dickey or Dodge. Hopefully, this will be the year that happens.

It would not surprise me, and Notre Dame is seeking conference home in the near future. The changes in the national NCAA football championship playoff are directed towards conference champions; independents are at a disadvantage. It is no secret that NBC's ratings for for Notre Dame football games have been disappointing. NBC is under new ownership. It is expected that NBC/Comcast wants to become a greater player in college football. Notre Dame may no longer fit with and NBC future plans. However, the big 12 does not appear to be good fit. Notre Dame has a longer tradition with Big Ten teams, and is geographically located within the Big Ten footprint. Also, Notre Dame's basketball and other sports are competing in the Big East. The big 12 has just finished the negotiating a huge TV contract. It is doubtful that the current members of the big 12 are looking to expand in the near future.

I saw this on the CUSA board and was wondering y'alls thoughts on it. I would like to see them in the west division with us for the foreseeable future.

42.

I agree up to a point, but my thought on this is, filling their stands with green and outnumbering the pink polo wearers in their own house sends many more positive messages than simply ignoring them. First, we get a well deserved reputation for travelling well. Second, we get the pure pleasure of outshouting them in Ford Stadium AND beating the ears off of June's little Ponies on the field. The SMUt faithful that delights in looking down their collective noses at us, and have done their best in keeping our program out of better conference affiliations in the past, need a vocal reminder who the new bully on the block is, and how they need to get used to looking up at us in terms of athletic superiority.

Agree. And because of our award-winning propoganda producing machine on campus, few in CUSA or anywhere for that matter (even some UNT students and probably some posters on this board) have no idea concerning the content in the signature statement below is actually factual with that signature brought to you in living color. You have to sometimes wonder how our tax dollars are being best utilized at times because we have all seen signs that some (not all) beaurocrats (state employees) can tend to coast along, not rock the boat, maybe even be a tad lazy but be magnificently unproductive even when sitting on top a gold mine. GMG!

seriously though, why are we dividing La Tech's hats? seems a little petty...

Agreed. And further, who cares? In the last decade, no one has hurt UNT more than UNT. We need to handle our business, regardless of league. Then let the rest play itself out. That's what UH did. That's what Boise has done. TCU, too. The latter perhaps being the best example.

Can we send UTSA to the east? Please.

To answer the title to this thread, yes we should. The majority of the rest of this thread is a total beating.

It never has to be trimmed because it stopped growing when it reached the perfect length. It strains soup without getting damp. Its shade of salt and pepper changes to complement whatever RV is wearing. It exudes the smell of potential North Texas victory. It intimidates other facial hair, so RV never has to shave. It is...the most interesting mustache in the world. "I don't always warm lips, but when I do, I warm lips that are cheering for North Texas. Stay Green, my friends."

lol

Why doesnt Benford go after Julius Randle, He #1 in texas... I mean we have to find a better player than Tony when he leaves

Is that a squirrel? (obscure kids' TV reference)