ADLER

Boy, golly, jeepers, guys. $10.00....$10.00....$10.00....$10.00.... It's amazing how a vote for a $7 increase is never presented as such. I guess that if you're only willing to view things from certain angles then you won't see what others believe is obvious.

But Stebo, we've got to play the best blah, blah, blah. A year ago Hawaii propelled itself to it's Miricle Season and a BCS Bowl by following the scheduling strategy that you described. They had blowout wins of 66-3 over Northern Colorado and 66-10 over College of Charleston. Other than that, they had a very ordinary success against Division 1-A competition: 45-44 over La Tech 42-35 over San Jose St 37-30 over Fresno St 28-26 over Nevada All nice wins, but within a touchdown of schools that had lower Sagarin ratings than the top few Sun Belt schools. A single comeback win against a BCS school in the season finale, at home, against a 4-9 Washington team, was all it then took to secure a BCS Bowl bid.

How does that $400 per year Western Kentucky student athletics fee compare with other schools? It's among the lowest. University of South Alabama ...... $506 per year, $253.00 per student per semester South Alabama Tuition and Fee schedule South Alabama increased the athletic fee effective this year with intents to participate in Sun Belt football in 2012. Florida International University......$455.30 per year, $227.65 per student per semester Florida International Fee Schedule The fee is based on $14.51 per credit hour (at 15 hours) plus a per semester $10 Intercollegiate Athletics Fee. There is a currently a proposal being reviewed by the FIU Board of Regents that would raise the fee $1.46 per credit hour which would raise the athletic fee to $15.97 per credit hour ($249.55 per student per semester, or $499.10 per year) Florida Atlantic University.....$412.50 per year, $206.25 per student per semester FAU Fee Increase In 2005 Florida Atlantic Trustees saw the need to raise the athletics fee from $11.75 to $13.75 per credit after a student referendum failed that would have made FAU's athletics fee higher than several other Florida university's. After 3 years in the Sun Belt and the subsequent success of the athletic programs, there is a likelihood that an additional increase will soon be passed. University of Texas-San Antonio.....$480 per year, $240.00 per student per semester UTSA Today on Athletics Fee increase The students at UTSA passed a referendum in September 2007 that will raise the athletics fee from $10 to $20 per credit hour for up to 12 hours (capped at a maximum $240 per semester). The increase has since been approved by the University of Texas regents. The increase is designed to enable UTSA to not only start football, but to field a competitive team. Texas State University.....$600.00 per year, $300.00 per student per semester by 2012 Athletics Fee Increase of February 2008 The Texas State fee is being raised to $20 per credit hour over the next 5 years. (the $300 figure shown above is based on 15 hour courseload) MTSU doesn't have a set Dedicated Student Athletics Fee. !t is a significant portion of the Program Services Fee which is a maximum of $1398.00 per year at a rate of $59.00 per credit hour, and a maximum of $699.00 per semester. MTSU Bursar's Office

WKU President Gary Ransdell is in his belief that football's upgrade is key to a master plan to expand the university's overall reach from regional to national. "It would take us several generations if we were to rely solely on our academic capacity," Ransdell says. "The athletic stage is one of the means through which that vision can be achieved." Ransdell and Athletics Director Wood Selig have tried to do their homework, incorporating what they've seen work elsewhere and avoiding what hasn't. "Western Kentucky enacted a $70 per semester hike in student athletic fees so that it can play with the upper echelon of the five non-automatic-qualifying leagues and we can get to bowl games, and we can play teams that our fans relish playing. We can have some magic and some energy in this program." Kentucky has a 6% state income tax. The school is putting $49 million that it received from the state into the stadium improvements. All this, and Western Kentucky is still only an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision school preparing to jump to 1-A in the Sun Belt Meanwhile, North Texas sits at a $3 per credit hour athletic fee, a fee which is supplying what is likely the smallest institutional investment of any Division 1 school in the nation. A modest increase of $7 per credit hour is being proposed that will help replace an obsolete facility, and even this may not pass. And people wonder what's wrong with UNT athletics.

Thank you for posting the articles.

I understand the point that Rick was trying to stress to the students and I hope his apology is accepted by his athletes. I believe he certainly meant no disrespect to them because I know Rick, I may not always agree with him on everything, but I know he has always spoken of our athletes with respect and has always had their best interest at heart.

People on this board get annoyed when the underlying problem with North Texas athletics is brought up. Facilities, coaches, players, logos, losses, merchandise, and uniform colors are more interesting topics, but some times you must ignore the individual pixels and look at the whole picture. The fundemental problem with North Texas is, and has always been, a lack of institutional investment. In the major sports, North Texas has only one postseason victory in the past 60 years. No other school in the nation can say that. I am not a student and have no business or interest in trying to sway their vote one way or the other. If somebody that is a student would like to present some of this, then feel free to. It's not really my opinion, it's just a display of how North Texas athletics have gotten to where they are today.

With all due respect, as I am grateful to every player that suits up for North Texas, but as far as players that could garner interest from the NFL, Dickey inherited a gold mine compared to what he left. Other than Jamario, those type of players stopped arriving at North Texas after the 2001 signing class. Was that due to coaching staff changes, changes in recruiting philosophy, complacency, time constraints brought on by the New Orleans Bowls, or possibly something else?

The 3% was prior to 2006. In 2006 the Louisiana State Legislature approved for state assisted colleges to raise the amount that can be used for athletics. This comes from money paid to the state in tuition as well as the state supported assistance to the schools as part of their total budget. This affected all Louisiana FBS and FCS schools except LSU which, as reported, receives no state assistance for athletics. Based on a combination of athletic scholarships used and university enrollment, estimates for the 2008-2009 school year University of Louisiana System schools were $6.5 million for ULM, $6.7 million for LTU, and $7.1 million for UL-Lafayette. The proposal passed as suggested in July 2006. ULL's state support was raised to $6.5 million when total enrollment was around 16,000. Since the figure is directly tied to the schools enrollment figure, and ULL has grown by around 4% each of the last 2 years, that would put the figure over $7 million for the 2008-2009 school year.

To quote Bart Simpson " Au Contraire Mon Frair". This is a moot point though, North Texas had nowhere else to go and couldn't afford to remain independent. North Texas was not forced down to 1-AA and I don't believe that any school has ever been forced to that level. Idaho, NMSU, and Utah State have all been warned of possible probation which could eventually result in 1-AA (FCS) membership, but nobody has yet been forced down by the NCAA. When 1-AA was formed in 1978 it created a more affordable 63 scholarship limit and there was a 4 team playoff bracket among several of the conferences which wished to participate. The Southland Conference had been Division 1 from 1975 through 1981 with a bowl tie-in to the Independence Bowl. Prior to the 1982 season, the Southland lost it's only bowl contract and it's member schools, all except ULL, decided to join the more cost effective NCAA Division 1-AA and it's then expanded 12 team playoff system. There was no set criteria for the NCAA for teams to have to meet or be forced to 1-AA. North Texas joined the Southland for strictly economic reasons; it could no longer afford to carry a 1-A independent team, opponents for home games could not be found, there were no postseason possibilities, and North Texas could not afford the travel budget. There was a very strong push by some to drop football altogether, but Dr. Hurley managed to make the argument that 1-AA was a good compromise. (Please remember that the independent status was affecting all sports, not just football, Bill Blakeley's competitive teams of the 1970's were never invited to any post-season play). North Texas opted to move to the 1-AA Southland Conference. There was a set criteria for any school to move up to the 1-A level: must have a stadium capacity of 30,000 and must average 17,000 at home games. Southland members La Tech, Arkansas State, and UL-Monroe all met this criteria and moved up to 1-A football. North Texas needed to maintain the bodybag guarantee games to make budget sothere was a push to rejoin 1-A in 1995. Fouts Field was expanded to 30,000 and attendance exceded 17,000. The next year North Texas joined the Division 1-A Big West Conference. Institutional funding was never increased, and that has landed North Texas where it is today.

Unlike the 3 University of Louisiana schools which each receive around $7 million, North Texas gets no money from the state. North Texas runs the athletic budget with an incredibly small institutional contribution, especially for a school it's size. Throughout the 1970's the athletic budget was very tiny, so much so that North Texas dropped down to the 1-AA level in 1983 just to save money. Suddenly, a school which had been Division 1 forever was relegated to playing schools just moving up from Division 2 in the constantly changing Southland Conference. Throughout the 1980's the institutional contribution from the university never increased. Student activity fees diverted to athletics were around $21 per student per semester. During successful football seasons North Texas couldn't even afford to bid on hosting 1-AA playoff games. When the NCAA decided in 1992 that wins over 1-AA teams could no longer count towards bowl eligibility North Texas was forced to move to 1-A just to keep the lucrative guarantee games that helped it make budget. The losses continued to accumulate as games were sold to the highest bidders. Alumni and the community distanced themselves from the futility. North Texas joined the Big West Conference but was soon forced to start selling away basketball as well just to meet the travel expenses. The Big West Football Confeence disbanded and North Texas was then in a much more affordable regional league with other schools with small budgets as many were recent move-ups to 1-A. (UL-Lafayette was always in 1-A, but ya'll still had possibly one of the worst coaches ever in 1-A ball). North Texas had an incredible run of success with several 'reach' defensive players that became good enouth to draw NFL interest and dominated the new Sun Belt Football Conference for several years. For whatever reason, with the exception of Jamario Thomas, those NFL caliber players stopped coming after the 2001 signing class. Meanwhile, amid the football success, the NCAA was preparing to put North Texas on probation for Title IX violations for not being able to adequately fund women's sports. North Texas responded by passing it's first ever athletic fee of $3 per credit hour. This was enough to rescue the women's sports and get them facilities but it did nothing to assist football. Athletic Departments at other schools in the Sun Belt are all receiving in excess of $400 per year per student (some over $500 per year) and North Texas is stuck at $45 per semester plus a small amount that is still reluctantly diverted from student activity fees. Other schools in Texas that have Division 1-A aspirations, Texas State and UTSA have recently approved dedicated athletic fees of $20 per credit hour, up to $600 per student per year. Division 2 West Texas State is also moving to $20 per credit hour, and Division 1-AAA Lamar which doesn't even have football has student contributions nearly double North Texas at $170 per student per year. That's where we are today; a horribly underfunded program that struggles to compete playing in a horrible stadium that they can't afford to replace. There's a student referendum currently being proposed and it is even questionable whether it will even pass. If it passes, it will raise the student athletic fee only $7 per credit hour and will not go into effect until a replacement stadium is built, probably around 2011 at the earliest. Athletics is the most visible aspect of any university. It can raise or cripple the perception of a university. It is obvious what the lack of investment at North Texas has caused.

Wow, if only there was some type of blueprint available, some material that clarified exactly how a very large suburban university with historically weak alumni support could fund a successful Division 1 athletics program, one that includes a competitive Bowl Championship Subdivision football program. Don't click here, because This Doesn't Exist

According to the Urban Dictionary:

Thanks for putting this together SM. I'll be there with my bride and we'll be bringing chips and extra beverages.

Thanks 80, now you've disappointed Cameron. "Look don't make me participate in your stupid crap if you don't like the way I do it. You make me get out of bed, you make me come over here. You make me make a phony phone call to Edward Rooney? The man could squash my nuts into oblivion. And-and-and then, and then, you deliberately hurt my feelings."

"Uhhhh, customers suck." "Yeah, Yeah! And division from within too!" .

I don't think that you guys grasp the reality of the situation. While you are still hoping for some meat to put on your little 'wish' sandwiches, the guys in San Antonio and San Marcos have already ordered catered lunches from Risky's Barbeque and Jason's Deli. How in Hell do you expect to be able to compete with that type of Smörgåsbord?

You were a little late to the show. Before you got there they had already announced that there was an open microphone up front for anyone that would lke to ask questions.

There has been neither proper institutional support nor the rewards derived from a succesful program (alumni and community support). Your point is like a farmer claiming that he shouldn't plow seeds into a field until he gets a good harvest from it.

Never Dusty Bottoms! I am a devoted desciple of Lucky Day. While everyone is shooting at the invisible swordsman, it's a lack of institutional funding that has always been the El Guapo for North Texas.

How many Lambda Chi's does it take to screw in a light bulb? Only two. All they'll need is a 4-pack of wine coolers and a light bulb large enough for them to climb inside. Just kidding Chops. It's an old college joke. .

That is exactly what will happen. May I suggest that if an ad is run, that it simply ask students to vote for what they believe needs to be done for their university. If they really believe further crippling athletics is the answer, then that's the way they should vote.

Not an option for me. I will be sitting in Rice Stadium.

He probably left TAMU-CC because of the coaching change. There may have been a lot of changes when Ronnie Arrow left for South Alabama.

Thanks for the reply. It's certainly a sticky situation because I doubt the Pourhouse wants to upset either group. What about putting all the televisions in another area tuned to the UT game and directing those fans there. That way they'll have sound for their game. If they have to watch it without sound in the "UNT" room, they will wish that they had just stayed at home, and that's not good for future business.