MeanGreen61

http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.d...;ATCLID=1430405

Sun (Belt) Rising Posted by Administrator on April 04th 2008 to General It was nice to see the Sun (Belt) rise in the NCAA Tournament with USA’s at-large berth and Western’s run to the Sweet 16. The timing could not have been better. For most of its existence since the American South and Sun Belt merged, I-A or FBS football programs have been the minority in the conference or a bare majority. Asking schools that do not play football or who do no play FBS football to spend basketball earnings on a sport they do not play is a challenge. A challenge that is even tougher when the schools benefiting are cross-state rivals. Now the 13 member Sun Belt has 8 members currently playing FBS football, Western Kentucky wraps up transition this year and will be a football member in 2009. South Alabama plans to be a football playing member by 2013. Of the 13 members 10 either play football in the Sun Belt or are working toward that goal. A few years ago the leadership at Western Kentucky and South Alabama after having earned a combined four NCAA basketball units would have questioned the wisdom of the money they brought to the league being used to assist football when Western was playing I-AA or FCS football and USA wasn’t playing football at all. Today they would have to see such spending as an investment in their own futures. What sort of impact could an additional boost of revenue of around $600,000 a year over six years have for football? Quite a bit. The MAC promises the GMAC Bowl in Mobile that it will purchase 7,500 tickets at $45 each to be part of the game. According to an article that appeared before their last GMAC appearance, Bowling Green fans and supporters purchased “about” 1,500 of the 7,500 tickets in 2004. That means that either Bowling Green or the MAC or the two combined had to pick up the tab on at least 6,000 tickets at a cost of over $270,000. Bowling Green was apparently on a pace to sell even fewer tickets this year. The revenue from just one extra basketball unit earned would pay for a guarantee to purchase 4,000 tickets. If each Sun Belt member agreed that it would be responsible for selling 4,000 tickets if selected for the GMAC, the conference could promise the GMAC the sale of 8,000 tickets if it would replace the MAC and its guarantee of 7,500 tickets with the Sun Belt in the game. The Sun Belt in the past has faced a tough situation talking to bowl organizers. Members obviously have had to be hesitant to promise that they individually would purchase 7,500 tickets to a game. The cost of unsold tickets coupled with sending a band, a larger traveling party and staying at the game site for four to six days could easily result in huge financial losses for an athletic program unless ticket sales were very strong. Without conference money as an insurance policy against poor ticket sales, signing a contract making that promise was just not a safe course of action. The timing is just perfect. Not only are football and future football members a strong majority in the conference, not only did we have the good fortune of the units being earned by incoming football members, but more importantly the timing was magnificent. Most bowl contracts run the same length as the BCS contract and expire after the 2009 season. The Sun Belt will have money in the bank when the bowls begin looking at their options for the four or five year period of the next BCS deal. As those contracts begin to be negotiated over the next 24 months, the Sun Belt has the money to make the sort of promises the bowl organizers want to hear.

My thoughts exactly. Over zealous monitor ?

Rating the best coaching jobs in the Sun Belt With the departure of Darin Horn to South Carolina, Western Kentucky is in the market for a new men's basketball coach, which got me thinking: Just what is the best coaching job in the Sun Belt Conference? Troy football and Louisiana-Lafayette baseball and softball come to mind due to their tradition, along with WKU women's basketball. UNT football has the potential to be a prime job if the school gets a new stadium built soon. The same could be said of the Florida Atlantic and Florida International football jobs. Texas is an underrated hoops state, which makes the UNT men’s and women’s basketball jobs better than most people think. But at this point the top position in the league has to be coaching the WKU men‘s basketball team. The Hilltoppers have been to the NCAA Tournament 20 times, made the Sweet 16 three times, the Final Four once and is ranked eight in NCAA history in winning percentage. E.A. Diddle is the best basketball venue in the Sun Belt, although the Cajundome, Mitchell Center and Super Pit are not far behind. WKU is also in the heart of hoops country, where a coach can recruit in Indiana and Kentucky. Both the Hoosiers and Wildcats recruit nationally, leaving plenty of the best players from two of the top hoops states in the country there for the taking. There is big-time pressure to win at WKU, but the coaches who have fared well have moved on to bigger and better jobs. Don't think that doesn't come into play when it's time to hire a new coach -- or rate the job. That is why it will be so interesting to see who Western comes up with for its next coach. The school should be able to sell the job as a perfect opportunity for an up-and-comer. UNT could put its football job close to the same level as the WKU basketball job in the next few years with a new stadium. UNT is in the heart of one of the top two or three states in the country when it comes to producing football talent, is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and has the advantage of being only public school with a Division I football program in the immediate area. The Mean Green's in-state rivals point to an outdated Fouts Field and the Sun Belt as downfalls for UNT when it comes time for recruiting battles, but Fouts could soon be on its way out. UNT doesn't have a baseball team and I haven't covered a softball or soccer game outside of Denton, so I can't rate those jobs, but here is my list of the top jobs in the league in football and basketball: 1. WKU men's basketball -- Great tradition, facilities and a track record of attracting top players 2. Troy football -- Larry Blakeney isn't going anywhere because he has a great facility, a history of success and the ability to recruit Florida and Alabama. 3. UNT football -- One could make a case for this being the No. 1 job or not even being in the top five after a few down years and with a stadium that everyone agrees needs to go, but location goes a long way. 4. WKU women's basketball -- For all the same reasons WKU men's hoops is No. 1, plus a huge budget that allows the team to recruit nationally 5. FAU or FIU football -- FAU has done a remarkable building job in just a few years and won the New Orleans Bowl last season. FIU also has the potential to become a power quickly due to location. Am I wrong? Think I missed one. Is UNT really No. 1?

Off the Muts board. Post by Pineapqlewiley one of their resident gurus. I'm gonna summarize each position, and then tell you which unit I think is a big concern. You don't have to do that, just simply state what unit you are concerned about and why. QB - We have Craddock & Dasher. This is kinda like 1a and 1b with Craddock slightly ahead right now. After that the talent will drop off considerably. true freshmen Sancho McDonald and Brent Burnette would have to play if Craddock and Dasher both went down. Burnette would likely get the nod since McDonald is highly unpolished. RB - If you wanted to argue this a big concern I wouldn't disagree. We only have Phillip Tanner and D. Gee, and Gee is hardly a RB. He's more of a field stretcher IMO. Marquise Branton and Wesley Hale are still highly unproven, and it wouldn't be fair to expect good production from the incoming true freshmen. This is for sure a position of concern because Tanner has a tendency to fumble. He's gonna be the #1 RB on the depth chart so I hope he can handle the pressure well. I personally think we'll see Dasher, Tanner, and Gee all lined up in the back field running the WVU type options. WR - Huge, HUGE concern. Tons of dropped balls and Kyles has a broken hand and Caldwell a hamstring problem. The loss of Anthony Jones only further complicates this units problems. I also personally think Caldwell is mega, mega overrated. The guy is very skinny and very slow. He isn't anywhere near the player I was hoping for, but maybe he just needs another year to develop. Incoming freshmen Malcom Beyah could be expected to contribute right away if things don't get any better at the position. D.D. Kyles (As I predicted) is going to play a huge role. He's built very well and is SOOOO fast. Eldred King could play a big role, and the incoming freshmen may be required to play as wekk. This unit has been a problem for quite some time (Ever since we lost Kerry Wright) and it's starting to frustrate me. I can understand a year, maybe two, of having poor production from a unit. But after several years you have got to get it fixed at all costs. Justin Watts, WR coach, is a great coach so I don't fault coaching for the problem. We just gotta get some athletes in here who can make some plays. OL - Jimmy Ray Stephens is a very good OL coach. In his system every linemen is taught how to play every position, so shuffling the line around in times of injury isn't too much of a problem for this unit. Talent wise we'll be a little worse off with Dunbar gone, but if the red-shirt freshmen (Mike Williams & Colin Boss) can provide some depth and maybe even start then we'll be OK. Not special, but ok. It's absolutely imperative that Jake Padrick gets his stuff figured out and contributes at center. You always want to red-shirt all your bigmen, but I could see one of the true freshmen playing in the 2deep possibly. The OL is going to be insanely strong for 2009 and 2010. The cliche that "it all starts up front" has tons of merit, so things look promising for our OL unit and the offense as a whole. Look for this unit to be very strong by the end of the year. TE - We're fine. Ingle is a huge field stretcher with great hands and GDD mans the position well and he'll only get better. I'm not sure what's up with McLeod but he was a HUGE recruit for us. He was #1 on our board for the TE position and we signed him. He's kind of a big deal ya know. With the fact that our WR unit is so depleted expect to see a lot of plays run to the TE and look for the QB to throw to the TE more often. DL - Losing Walden & Jones is tough, but I think we'll be ok. Chu is going to be a big help right away and the addition of him has allowed some DT's to move outside and help the DE position. Don't be surprised if Kendall Dangerfield cracks the 2 deep and plays around 10 snaps per game (I expect Jenkins and Dwight smith to start at tackle). Also don't forget about Sa'Coby Carter who could challenge for a spot this year at DE. Don't forget about E. Perez either. This is going to be a very strong unit not only this year but in the years to come. It appears the coaching staff is intent on having strong offensive and defensive lines. Not just good starters either, our 2 deep DL arn't much of a drop off either. DL is also my favorite unit on the field because they can cause soooo much havoc on an offense (Sacks, QB pressure, forced fumbles, forcing QB to make a bad mistake or bad throwing result in an INT, etc). Having a strong DL is so nice, and we're gonna have one in 2008 and in years to come. LB - I'll just go ahead and say this is my biggest worry, position wise, for 2008. I'm happy Diaz has taken over the coaching responsibilities here, but I'm very uneasy about the talent and lack of depth for this position. Danny Carmichael and Lonnie Clemons are the only two sure-fire players IMO. Harrington and Hickmon were for the most part a bust and I have heard that Landon Givers still has a ton of development to do. Jamari Lattimore is a relative unknown so he could be a wildcard. Cam Robinson honestly doesn't have much business being on the field except for special teams. I would have liked to see big stud JUCO added at LB. Gorby Loreus and Levonte David could contribute as true freshmen later in the season if they report to fall camp in great shape and work hard. Redshirt freshmen Antwan Davis could also be a wild card for this unit. Whatever the case may be though, this unit has to gel and not get out of position and tackle well. My reasoning for being concerned about the LB unit is this. It was flat out awful last year and I'd much rather have a good defense than a good offense. You can blame some of last year on coaching (poor game plans) and some of it on a lack of bodies to finish the season out. The fact of the matter is though if you let teams run the ball down your throat you don't have a very good chance of winning too many ball games. Our last 3 games for 2007 is proof of that. We just got ripped apart on the ground and that is unacceptable if we plan to compete for Sun Belt titles. This isn't rocket science, the coaches know this. I guess we'll wait and see. S/DB - I'm actually not worried about this unit at all. Suber is a guarantee, Glover & kellum will start at safety and Rod Isaac holds down the other CB position. Combine that with the incoming JC stud and Kevin Brown being an adequate safety back up and we should be ok in the secondary for 2008. We'll also be fine when we get into our nickel sets. I hope Suber can step up and be a play maker like B-Rob. Finally, Special teams - No worries here. I have faith in Alan G. even though he is a freshmen. Punting will be fine with Defatta and our kick return team is going to be mega fast with Tanner & D.D. kyles returning kickoffs. Don't be surprised to see Malcolm Beyah get in on special teams too. Sorry for the long rant, I always get carried away on here because none of my friends know a lick about football, much less MT football.

April 1, 2008 Football notes, where are they now? I went by football practice today, but before we get to the notes of the day, the guys over in sports information gave me this note that I found interesting. Remember former UNT head tennis coach Dawna Prevette? She is a head coach again. This time at Penn State. Seriously. Prevette had some good campaigns in her six-year tenure with the Mean Green before resigning. She ended up at Baylor as an assistant coach for one season and then landed another head coaching job, this time in the big time. I wonder if Penn State might hire Darrell Dickey if Jo Pa hangs it up? Sorry, couldn't resist. And now for some football notes ... Wide receiver B.J. Lewis caught a touchdown pass in team drills and looked good throughout the day. Defensive end Eddrick Gilmore continues to look impressive. He zipped right past some of UNT's offensive linemen in pass rush drills and had a sack in team drills at the end of practice. Tackle Matthew Menard worked in pass rush drills and appears to be back nearly at full strength. UNT could use him with the way its line has struggled at times with being shorthanded. Cornerback Antoine Bush had a good day. He broke up a pass intended for Sam Roberson and had another nice pass breakup later on. Wide receiver Greg Brown caught a touchdown pass while working with the third team offense. UNT worked on specific situations during the late stages of practice. The Mean Green's offense began drives at its 1-yard line and the defense's 5-yard line going into the end zone. Defensive coordinator Gary DeLoach is putting in the Mean Green's redzone defense this week, which could help UNT improve in an area it has struggled with throughout spring workouts. Post your thoughts on the blog. Who do you think has made the biggest impression thus far in spring practice?

http://media.www.ntdaily.com/media/storage...e-3294384.shtml

NORTH TEXAS RECRUITING MAP http://www.mapgameday.com/recruit/school/North%20Texas/

A state audit has the University of Central Florida changing the way it pumps money into its athletics program. State auditors criticized UCF for its unusual practice of lending money to the UCF Athletics Association, a 4-year-old organization that does not fall under the requirements of Florida's sweeping open-records law. Auditors found the university had no repayment plan for the loans, which amounted to $9.5 million. Auditors also took the school to task for diverting athletics fees, which students are required to pay, directly to the association without having an adequate way to monitor how the money was spent. Students at UCF pay an athletics fee of $11.72 per credit hour. UCF to revamp athletic funding in wake of audit report http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/n...0,6292905.story

New York-based MSL Sports and Entertainment announced Saturday the cancellation of Gridiron Bash events at all 16 participating schools, including one set for April 18 at the University of Tennessee. The event, scheduled for the night before UT's Orange and White Game, was to feature a concert by Montgomery Gentry and Taylor Swift inside Neyland Stadium along with a pep rally involving the UT band, cheerleaders and football team. Tickets were $43. The cancellation comes after some schools raised questions about whether the participation of football players in a pep rally at the concerts would constitute a violation of NCAA rules prohibiting special benefits for student-athletes. Several of the 16 schools had already informed organizers that their student-athletes would not be allowed to participate because of those concerns. FULL ARTICLE http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/mar/30/g...eled-over-ncaa/

Post by Arkstfan on the muts board. Re: Hale: Sun Belt needs another bowl tie-in Reply The Sun Belt got the change it needed last week. MONEY CUSA and the MAC have been taking their NCAA basketball revenue and buying up bowl berths. For example GMAC Bowl in Mobile. The GMAC requires the purchase of 7500 tickets at $45 each plus an unknown "marketing fee" at least from the MAC to "promote the conference in the Mobile area". The Liberty marketing fee for the MWC was $750,000 several years ago. The MAC teams have been selling 1,500 sometimes less, a few times more tickets for the GMAC. The conference picks up all of the marketing cost and maybe part of the unsold tickets. The Sun Belt UNTIL THIS YEAR, got the smallest BCS payout by being ranked 5th of the 5 non-auto leagues and got the minimum NCAA payout by being one and done. The BCS money this year doubled by placing ahead of the MAC. The NCAA money just increased more than 50% thanks to USA and WKU. At the end of this fiscal year the Sun Belt will receive more money than it ever has made in its history. Total league revenue should be up at least 50%. The Sun Belt finally has the money to buy its way into games. Before we could talk to a bowl and say we believed we could sell a good number of tickets, but we could never sign a contract obligating our teams to those numbers, now we can. It's coming too late for this year but it is coming at the perfect time. Most bowl contracts expire in 2009 and for the first time we can walk to the negotiating table with money in the checking account.

ARTICLE http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=10136

Any attendance estimates ? Blog indicated "a Western Kentucky sized crowd".

Off the Muts board. Article http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../803280323/1006

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/...28.8af7682.html

After watching a few sessions of spring, the player who seems to have really taken a step forward and improved his stock is redshirt freshman wide receiver Sam Roberson. I would be shocked if he didn't earn a starting job by fall practice. Kicker Jeremy Knott appears to be as good as advertised. Knott hit several field goals from 35 yards out with room to spare at the end of practice. He should help solve the problems with UNT's kicking game last season. Defensive end Eddrick Gilmore knocked down another pass at the line of scrimmage in practice. It seems like he gets at least one deflection every practice. Lineman Charlie Brown is getting a long look with the first- and second-team defenses.

The future of the Mean Green Athletic Village, notes The UNT Board of Regents will consider a proposal in closed session on Thursday that appears as if it could have an indirect impact the future of the Mean Green Athletic Village. UNT's regents are set to look at the lease of the Radison Hotel that sits just a few yards away from the Mean Green Athletic Center and not too far from where the school hopes to build a football stadium in the near future. The agenda item indicates that the board could take action. I couldn't get a hold of the contract, but the hotel leases the property from UNT. The lease extends for several more years, but there is a chance that either side could opt out, giving the property back to the university. I asked UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal if the future of the hotel was in any way connected to the school's plans to build a football stadium. He said it wasn't, but it would be interesting to see what the university would do with the land, especially if the school does build a football stadium. It would be a prime area to add to UNT's athletic facilities in the future. On the hoops front, a blog reader asked about Lewisville point guard William Weathers and if UNT was actively recruiting him. I asked the coaches over at Lewisville and they said UNT had looked at Weathers, but Wichita State and Tulane were the teams that were actively pursuing him. Post your thoughts on the blog. What would you like to see the university do with the land if the Radison leaves the building?

TOP NEWCOMERS: QB Riley Dodge — The Parade All-American is the son of coach Todd Dodge and will have an opportunity to compete for the starting job as a true freshman. OL Gabe Hollivay — The 6-3, 320-pound junior college transfer will have an opportunity to make an immediate impact. DB Justin Edwards — The 6-1, 185-pound junior college transfer should make an impact for a secondary that struggled mightily last year. NORTH TEXAS http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/foo...belt/ntexas.htm

New look North Texas is working under new defensive coordinator Gary DeLoach, who promises to alter the Mean Green’s 4-3 scheme. UNT already changed from a 3-4 scheme to a base 4-3 last season under new head coach Todd Dodge. DeLoach’s scheme is still different than last season’s look, and UNT is spending spring drills working into the new system. DeLoach, however, doesn’t need to familiarize himself too much with the Mean Green program. DeLoach was UNT’s defensive coordinator from 2000-02, helping the Mean Green defense to a top-20 national ranking before accepting an assistant position with UCLA in 2002. DNJ article http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...S/80326015/1006

Maybe they can't participate in team drills due academic problems ?

Big East vs. C-USA bowl may debut Dec. 21, 2008 in St. Pete http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/sports/c...or-dec-21-2008/

http://meangreen.beloblog.com/

Appears that CUSA is trying very hard to get another bowl. Wonder if WW is napping or............... ? At this point, the biggest hurdle for the Congressional Bowl involves lining up a conference to fill the other slot. Metcalf has engaged in extensive discussions with the Atlantic Coast Conference and Conference USA and said Monday he was confident a deal would be struck with one of the two. ESPN has tentatively agreed to televise the new bowl game provided there is a guaranteed opponent for Navy. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech sold a mere 500 tickets for the Humanitarian Bowl and Tulsa brought just 2,000 fans to the GMAC Bowl. Utah, Navy's opponent in the Poinsettia Bowl, unloaded only 3,850 tickets despite being located relatively close to San Diego. Article http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/r...08/03_23-63/NAS

March 23, 2008 WKU's run -- who will benefit Western Kentucky kept right on rolling in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday with a win over San Diego. Courtney Lee scored 29 points and the Hilltoppers survived late after blowing a double-digit lead for the second straight game. WKU got a break when San Diego pulled a first-round upset of UConn, making the road a little easier, but one has to give the Toppers credit. They have taken advantage of their opportunities to become the first Sun Belt team to reach the Sweet 16 since 1993 when -- you guessed it -- WKU won two games to make it to the third round. There has been a lot of talk about how the Hilltoppers' run will benefit the Sun Belt. It certainly won't hurt. If someone watching the game on TV hadn't heard of the league before, he had the Sun Belt burned into his brain after it was mentioned 20 times that Courtney Lee was the league's Player of the Year. The Sun Belt needs all the positive publicity it can get, but if I were a fan of another team in the league I would cast a wary eye toward Bowling Green. WKU is always loaded, has a great arena and the ability to recruit nationally. A Sweet 16 run is only going to add fuel to their fire. UNT and South Alabama could be enough to prevent a Sun Belt dynasty, but former WKU guard and current head coach Darrin Horn is going to have a lot to work with the next few years if he stays with the Hilltoppers. I also wonder just how much a team benefits when another team in the league makes a run. I don't see Florida Atlantic's win in the New Orleans Bowl or WKU's run in the NCAA Tournament making a big difference for UNT. Post your thoughts on the blog. Will anyone in the Sun Belt other than WKU benefit from the Hilltoppers' success?

I agree but WW did singles them out along with USA & WKU as the ones who stepped up to improve the conference with their scheduling. Reads like he credits those three for two bids to the Dance.