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If he takes much longer, he'll be old enough to play QB for UH

Seems like your putting the chart before the horse. When UNT starts winning consistently like Southern Miss does, they can start charging higher prices. The product has to be worth the higher price.

My HSO... The frustration isn't with the kid or the delay in making his decision. We all recognize the importance of it from football, academic, and social perspectives. The frustration is with the changes in sports media coverage. Vito's challenged by some to provide constant updates - regardless of how substantial - while others would rather just get the news once it's final. My suggestion: If you only want the news, don't read the blog. If you're looking for "worthless" updates, read the blog.

I know, it's like he has a special talent that people want or something! What a jerk!!! You guys are absolutely ridiculous sometimes. Here we are with a chance to land a special talent and all some of you can do is bitch and moan about it. This isn't 1976, this is how football goes now. We are not in a position to tell a talent like this no. Where do you guys get that he has a huge ego problem? Has he had academic problems? Has be broken the law? Rape? Murder? Drugs? Theft? Can you blame someone for exploring all of his options? Apparently on GMG you can and should.

Right? What a jerk this kid must be for taking his time with such a life-altering decision. Clearly he's only thinking about himself, his family and what's best for both when in reality he ought to be much more concerned with what he's doing us.

I thought that i worded mine clearly, but I'll try and make them clearer. If this young man is being careful with his decision because he is looking past football and wants to be prepared to have a career and/or just make a living, then great. He's being a lot more thoughtful (and plan-full) than most potential athletes coming out of High School. I just don't want to read about it until he has actually enrolled and/or signed whatever documents that says that he is committed to this school and football program. This whole process sounds like the NCAA version of "The Bachelor". And I suppose that that is what is most annoying to me.

Days till kickoff !!

I agree, it is an important decision but he appears to have a rather high opinion of himself.

It was actually going to be cheaper to for TCU to travel in the Big East then it was in the MWC. I think the travel cost are blown way out of proportion. Most of the Big East schools are located in major metro areas, you can fly into them and have a very short drive relatively easy. CUSA is the same way with the exception of Marshall and Southern Miss. In most cases you are talking about a 2:00 vs 3:00 flight. It's really not that big of a deal, most people on this board are making it a big deal because they want it to be a big deal. In this article it states that the Big East doesn't require schools to compete in individual sports against other Big East members during the regular season. So if SMU or Houston doesn't want to ship their golf team, tennis, or swimming teams to Piscataway, NJ or wherever for regular season matches, they don't have to. I believe they would just have to compete in the conference tournament. http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/15553/john-marinatto-talks-tcu-expansion Who knows where college football will be in 5 years, we might not even have conferences. Who knows. I just think if you can move up a rung in status, you do it regardless of the finances but I don't think the financial situation is as dire as people here are making it out to be.

It seems pretty iffy to me whether or not this move will turn out to be financially worthwhile for smu and Houston, but I suspect their major motivation is in the hope that moving up a peg (or at least a partial peg) will improve their chances of landing a spot in the Big 12 at some point. Of couse they're going to have to quickly win big in the money sports, hope their new conference doesn't fall apart, and regularly fill up their stadiums for there to be much of a chance of this happening. I suspect that is going to be a tall order for SMU in particular. Football only probably would have been their best scenario IMO.

I never likes them fancy pants tecno savy newspapers in the first place. This damn country took a turn for the stupid when our beloved town criers began dissapearing from the streets. And don't even get me started on facebook... I'm old.

That is a lot of heat between now and then. It's okay because we will win the Sunbelt and the Cowboys a Superbowl!!

Go Mean Green!

You know, I like comparing the Mean green's program with other school's programs...especially those in the Sun Belt and our new affiliation CUSA. I think we and the folks in the athletic department can find good ideas to copy. And, you know what? They have. Look at the Mean green Club priority point system, the Mean green Club Volunteer Rep program, the Coaches Caravans, membership benefit levels and on and on. Many were ideas that originated at other programs brought to us by staff members, alumni and fans. So, comparing UNT and how UNT does things to other programs is an excellent ex cerise. One, I can tell you that the Athletic Dept. does on a very regular basis. One of our senior staffers was just this last weekend away at a conference sharing ideas with other schools and learning about new and innovative programs that might benefit UNT. But, when one compares, one must compare more than just the cool stuff. Let's take Southern Miss for an example...the Southern Miss Golden Eagle Club (our Mean Green Club) requires a $1500.00 minimum Golden Eagle Club donation to our $500 in order to purchase lower bowl 50-yard line section seats. In addition, So. Miss charges an EXTRA $300 per seat according to the number of seats you purchase...So, you buy four 50 yard line seats your cost per year is $ 2700.00 PLUS the price of the tickets! Did I read that correctly on the So Miss site? At UNT that cost is $500 plus the price of the tickets. The other sections are priced at So Miss are priced accordingly. So, one must realize how much more money So Miss has to do things with than UNT does at the moment. So, comparisons are great, but let's compare available funds and the willingness of fans and donors to step up and pay the price as well. To get ones name in the football program at So Miss, one must donate a minimum of $500 to the Golden Eagle Club. Think about that Mean green Fans! This is a level of support I would hope UNT and UNT fans everywhere are striving to obtain. And, yes, UNT is behind in that level of support by a good margin, but progress is being made. Right now several Volunteer Reps are working hard and sometimes swimming against the currents to try to raise the number and overall donation level for UNT's Mean Green Club. As one such volunteer, I can tell you that you hear lots of things regarding the program and the ideas folks have about the Mean green Club and the Mean Green in general. So, let's all do compare UNT to other schools and let's compare UNT to the best of the best as that is where most of the great Mean Green Nation wants to be...and in many areas already is at that level. BUT, let's never forget that it takes many many more dollars that UNT currently has at its disposal to get that done. And, when we compare, let's all realize what a fantastic BARGAIN the Mean Green Club and the benefits we all receive are as the price will definitely have to go up in order to get where we want to go. One simply cannot make suggestions and wish it so and then leave it to someone else to do the heavy lifting. It's that time where Mean Green Nation members everywhere might need to look in the mirror and get out those work gloves and start helping with the heavy lifting that needs to be done. Does this mean only sending in more money? Nope, it can mean volunteering one's time and expertise as well. Live outside Denton? Like to play golf? How about organizing a Mean Green Club golf tournament? It's hard work...I've done it, but it can sure help raise a lot of money. How about helping to organize a local Alumni Chapter? Yep, hard work and lots of frustration, but when it gets going it is well worth the effort. Complaining that someone else SHOULD be doing something, that in fact you could help do, is not doing much to make those comparisons with folks like Southern Miss seem much closer. So, I know, lots of folks will complain bout this post and perhaps disagree quite loudly...that's well OK as they are more than welcome to their opinions, but, at the end of the day, we all know what must be done and we all know if we are part of the "doing it crowd" or the "they should be doing it" crowd. The great Mean Green Nation really can do this...they have shown their willingness time and time again...we just need more of those folks and we need some we have to help make something more happen. Bring on those comparisons...they really do help put things in perspective...let's do have a complete perspective howerer......

Had not seen this posted yet. This post has been promoted to an article

It took me too long to get around to posting this but I want to publicly thank NT03 for being a great guy. To go through the trouble of putting a check in the mail to help out a complete stranger is something I'm not sure many, including myself, would do. The kindness shown by your actions mean so much to myself and everyone who considers Brian a friend. Thank you.

Seems a little over dramatic for an article that answers its own question. Either LA Tech or Tulane will move over for two seasons. The authors misses the other reason why it might be Tech, their the new guy. It's easier for Tulane to dictate what is going to happen because they are established in CUSA. But its not unrealistic for Tulane to want to go East for a two seasons. They could easily ask for extra payout from the league and request things like their non-divison games me for two years be against teams of their choice (Rice, Tech, UTSA, UNT).

Yes, I know this is the wrong forum. Joel is a great guy and one heck of a teacher. Go Mean Green! Cool article on Joel. http://www.pga.com/seniorpga/2012/news/joel-edwards-loves-competing-and-teaching-052312.cfm

WOW...let's play some football! Can't wait for the season to get here...awesome!

Talk about a fruitless discussion. Who cares the differences are so scant between automatic entry standards of most of the state schools: UH, Tech, NT, TSSM, UTSA and UTA that you are getting in to the deep weeds to tell the difference. Then you get into how many are admitted that don't meet the standards, enough in some cases to make the stated numbers almost meaningless. One think I do believe after looking at a lot of college stats, that are used in the endless fan debates: athletic budget, attendance, academic metrics, etc.; is that most reported numbers are at best slanted and provide very little more than a very broad view.

+1, and I'm surprised he wasn't drafted, but maybe NFL teams other than the cowboys are into a youth movement.

Hopefully you guys caught my sarcasm too.

Plumm is a UNT grad and fan. More power to him. Checkfacts is....

Exactly what I was thinking! God help us if GL2Greatness starts coloring, highlighting, and underscoring his epistles like Plummer.

I like it man

Where is Danny Manning on the list?

Unfortunately, I am obviously not wording my thoughts correctly. Honestly, I hope he ends up here and don't mean to come across as complaining. Carry on and I will sit down and keep quiet.

Mean Green ties all over the map! JJ is at #1.

I have made statements regarding transfers and why they are transfering.............................................

i don't get magazines or papers in physical form anymore. If I can't get it on my iPad, I pass.

With all seriousness and no SMU/UNT lagniape or silliness here, but do you have any idea, Comet7745, what SMU would feel their TV revenue needs to be to actually justify sending all their men and women's varsity sports to the east coast for intercollegiate competition? I feel a handful of SMU alums would foot the bill no matter what, but if the TV revenues become so ridiculously low, would it have really been worth leaving CUSA to play non-traditional out of the SW region non-rivals with not as much Game Day interest as you know a more regionalized home schedule would offer the Mustangs? Quite frankly, a UNT/UConn or Temple or Rutgers, etc, etc, etc, football matchup would be one tough sell to our UNT constituency for an Apogee Stadium Game Day. We are not going to hold our breath knowing our past histories with each other, but it would be in the best interest for SMU and UNT to play each as often as possible in all sports--both men and women's varsity level sports. We know that attendance would almost never be a problem with such matchups, but it still takes 2 to Tango. GMG!

If he takes much longer, he'll be preempted by the second coming of Christ!

If he takes much longer, he'll be eligible for social security.

Isn't this his decision about where he wants to go to college? Not sure how a decision about where to go to school, football or no, can be anything but self centered. I would make this decision about what's best for me as well.

Let's hope he doesn't take his talent to South Beach...

I mean, he's got some major issues with his hands on defense. There are only so many times he can just whip-up a triple double to cover up his ticky-tack fouls before Benford benches him.

Newspapers have to keep up. We are in a digital age. The printed newspaper is almost gone. Newspaper companies have to have a website and put the news online. By the time it comes out in print, the news is already old. Magazines are the same way but worse. Sports Illustrated delivers every week. Newspapers and magazines have to offer something besides scores and highlights. They have to provide some inside knowledge. Sports Illustrated does that pretty well.

I'm also a throwback and enjoy reading the hard copy of the LA Times, but they have gone through many layoffs the last 3-5 years. I am sure that the Times will be adopting this model soon enough.

I wanted to give this a minus... then a plus... then I gave it nothing... this is just too out there

You know, there is something rather off-putting to me about this. I guess I'm still stuck back in the days when one of our greatest QB's of all time, Jordan Case, wrote a letter to Hayden Fry asking him for the opportunity to walk on and win a scholarship. To me, Burgland is still in that nebulous category of "great potential" and "great ratings" by (alleged) experts. I seem to recall a highly thought of WR who recently came through our system (wearing #14) that had "great potential". I'm with the (late) great Don Meredith on this "great potential" thing. He used to say that "potential" just meant that you hadn't done anything yet.

Shazam !!!

I've switched to the DMN online edition. Their e edition looks like the regular paper with the same layout. I get it when I travel anywhere in the world. I'm also an online WSJ subscriber. I find I now read more than ever before because it's on my iPad or computer and one of those two is with me everywhere I go. I saw an analysis that the NY Times can actually start to break even and have the potential to show a profit once the number of online suscribers hits some point balance with not having to print as many copies. Papers can actually make a better case to advertisers with online ads - you can track how many folks actually open that page. With web links, advertisers can track a real click thru rate. The old "I know half of my ad budget is wasted but I don't know which half" is no longer valid. They now know exactly. Newspapers have always been about delivering an audience to advertisers. The audience is moving, but cleaver news marketing can still deliver an audience. But like the change from network tv to cable, the audience is much more fragmented and specialized.

Certainly, a media contract that generates only $4 million a year would not make since for a school like SMU to make the move to the BE. The cost of the move will cost and lost revenues will total over $3 million a year (see below). If the additional costs of joining the new conference exceed a $1 million dollars a year, SMU will have a real problem. Travel expenses will be significantly higher in the new conference. SMU attendance in some sports is likely to fall because with the exception Houston all of there conference competitors are not in the same geographic region. SMU has felt it necessary to pay Big Conference Salaries to renew it's football head coach salary and hire a new basketball coach. The football coach's salary is reported to be $2 million a year and the basketball coach is expected to be even higher. The reason last year's contract was rejected was the non-football schools were not happy with their share of the revenue, if the total revenues decline in the new contract, expect the non-football schools to demand at bigger slice of the pie or to bolt from the conference. If as expected the C-USA is able to negotiate a much more lucrative TV contract, some former C-USA may wished they did not jump to so quickly. They are each contractually obligated to pay their annual share of television revenue under Conference USA's dual contracts with Fox Sports Network and CBS Sports for five years and an additional one-time $500,000 fee. http://articles.orla...ton-banowsky-co C-USA alone will realize $6.63 million apiece from Memphis, UCF, SMU and Houston when they leave to join the Big East after the 2013 basketball season, according to C-USA assistant commissioner for public affairs Courtney Morrison-Archer. http://www.herald-di...erger-for-C-USA 2 million entrance fee. Total cost $9.183 million over a five year period or $1.8366 a year The current C-USA media contact CUSA 5 years, $35 million, CBS College Sports (through 2016) 5 years, $35 million, Fox (through 2016) Annual: $14 million* Average Annual per School: $1.17 million http://collegesports...-by-conference/ http://www.sportsbus...ights-Fees.aspx So just to cover the cost of joining BE and loss revenues from the CUSA a team must realize increase in revenue of ($1.17 + $1.8366) = $3.00666** * Some reports that C-USA contract is worth as a much as $16 million a year. or $1.33 million per school. ** I did not include basketball tournament revenue and other sources for the BE or the C-USA. It is difficult to accurately forecast these amounts because they are determined by unknown factors as number tournament invitations and team performance. However, it is save to assume that these revenues were not significantly higher for the BE than the C-USA. http://www.cbssports...of-its-lifetime 4 to 8.66 million value of new contract. C-USA should be able vastly improve media contract. C-USA has added a combination of established and emerging programs. Four of the five schools bring a market size ranked among the top 36 in the country and totaling over two million more TV households than the league held this past year. Now that ODU as committed that wll bring an additional 718,750 households, totally close to three million more TV households. Five of the six schools are in the fastest growing media markets. Four of the six schools are media markets without direct competition from other major Universities or Pro teams. After realignment the C-USA increase the number of large media markets in markets and dramatically increase the number of television households. The C-USA has position itself for better long-term growth than any other conference. None of the other conferences have any room for growth, they have already saturated their markets. C-USA was clever enough to expand within it's hold geographical foot print, yet add new large media markets like San Antonio, Charlotte, Miami, and Norfolk and secure itself in the DFW market. The C-USA is located in the fastest geographical region of the country. According to the US Census Bureau, from 2000 to 2010, regional growth was much faster for the South and West (14.3 and 13.8 percent, respectively) than for the Midwest (3.9 percent) and Northeast (3.2 percent). While expanding, the C-USA avoided media markets dominated by the SEC or the ACC. After realignment, the C-USA loss Memphis and Orlando to the Big East. Although major media markets, the both of these markets were highly competitive. The Tennessee market is relatively small and is being dominated by the University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt both of the SEC. Similarly the Florida market is dominated by the ACC and the SEC. The C-USA can offered television networks a conference that includes large rapidly growing media markets with a huge number of television households, in the fastest growing region in the country without offering little or no direct competition to the network's existing contracts with any of other large conferences including the SEC, the ACC, The B1G,or the BIG 12.

You bite your tongue. Me, LuLu's Coffee Shop and the Sunday Times Crossword have a perfectly healthy and loving (well...love/hate...ohh Will Shortz...you and your delicious puns) relationship that last til the end of days.

We'll all be poorer for it, but I agree its the future. Many cities will not have daily newspapers in 10 years.So much for lounging around on the weekend with a cup of coffee and the newspaper!

Perhaps one of the less obvious things to be excited about is Jacob Holmen's senior season. He was absolutely incredible at times during the tournament. If he continues to improve, look out...

The Big East pays double what the MWC pays, which is the highest paying mid-major.

I totally agree. Who fears an old coach who has won a national championship, finished ranked in the top 5 three times, and has lost a total of 21 games in his coaching career? That doesn't scare me one bit. Fortunately for us UTSA didn't go out and hire some hot shot up & coming high school coaching genius. Then I would be really afraid.