MeanGreen61

Maybe both ?

Slow, so here's a little triva from the past. The Howell Rating system has North Texas in their season end Top Twenty 3 times. 1959,1977 & 1978. Here's how the current 1A Texas schools were ranked at the time. 1959 #6 Texas #9 TCU #19 North Texas #25 SMU #47 Baylor #63 Texas Tech #70 Texas A&M #79 Rice #93 Houston #96 UTEP 1977 #3 Texas #16 North Texas #24 Texas A&M #36 Texas Tech #42 Houston #50 Baylor #77 SMU #118 TCU #127 Rice #133 UTEP 1978 #8 Texas #11 Houston #18 North Texas #32 Texas Tech #33 Texas A&M #42 SMU #62 Baylor #108 Rice #112 TCU #134 UTEP It's no wonder that the 'privates' didn't want NT in the SWC in 1977/1978 HOWELL RANKINGS http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cfindex.htm

Thanks Rick. Greatly appreciated.

Anyone know how many Mean Green players are on campus working out ? Spurrier wants dedication USC football coach says players need to make more of a commitment to summer workouts By JOSEPH PERSON jperson@thestate.com For the second consecutive year, Steve Spurrier said attendance at USC’s voluntary summer workouts has left plenty to be desired. The Gamecocks’ coach cited eight to 10 “so-called players” who have failed to make early-morning conditioning runs and afternoon weightlifting sessions part of their regular summer routine. “We’ve got some lazy guys here that are not going to make it. It’s just a matter of time before they fall by the wayside,” Spurrier said Thursday during what he called a midsummer media briefing. “But that happens everywhere, and usually that’s why they don’t make it. They don’t give any effort. They quit. They skip workouts, skip class.” Spurrier’s words echoed his remarks from July of last year, when he said USC needed to improve its commitment level to become a “big-time football program.” Unlike last year, however, Spurrier said he could not criticize the poor attitudes of players left behind by former USC coach Lou Holtz. “A lot of them are guys we signed. You can’t blame the former staff on guys that were signed (by Holtz) all the time,” Spurrier said. “We signed some of these guys. Their commitment level just isn’t there. And if it doesn’t improve, then obviously they don’t have much of a chance of playing.” Spurrier said about half of the players in question were upperclassmen. Injured receiver Syvelle Newton is the only player Spurrier mentioned by name — and that was in response to a question about Newton’s recovery from Achilles surgery. “He’s another guy that’s not always here. But he wasn’t always here last year, either,” he said. “So he needs to improve his attendance at these things.” Spurrier was quick to point out that attendance at the summer workouts is not mandatory. Among the major violations that landed USC on NCAA probation for three years was the finding that Holtz’s staff conducted mandatory workouts during the summers of 1999 through 2002. “It’s voluntary. There’s no discipline this time of year for these guys,” Spurrier said. “But to show that they care for their team and their teammates, they should be there.” During the summer of 2005, Spurrier mailed letters to as many as seven players explaining they were in danger of losing their scholarships. But Spurrier said the letters had more to do with scholarship limits and were unrelated to attendance issues. Under sanctions imposed by the NCAA, this is the second and final season USC will have 83 scholarships, two below the Division I-A standard. Spurrier said the Gamecocks are in good shape in terms of available grants; he again plans to award scholarships to several walk-ons in September. While Spurrier conceded this year is the worst attendance for summer workouts he could recall among his teams, the 45-pound plates in the Gamecocks’ weight room are not rusting. “We’ve still got plenty of players that are really busting their tails and trying to get ready to have a big season,” Spurrier said. “We just don’t have the 98 percent.” The former Duke and Florida coach praised several players for their summer work, including quarterback Blake Mitchell, tailback Mike Davis, senior cornerback Fred Bennett and defensive tackle Marque Hall. Spurrier hopes he can add to that list by the time preseason practice begins in August. “Hopefully,” he said, “our guys will pick it up through the rest of the summer.”

From the official Sun Belt board. http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.d...CRIBER_CONTENT=

Post by an FIU fan on the Sun Belt board. 5pts (Main Board) posted by Hay~ , 06-22-2006, 14:50, from 65.90.31.131 Here's how many more games each team would have won with an extra 5-1/2pts. Kinda makes you look at NT's 2 win season differently. ASU:+1 ULL:+2 ULM:+2 (one being against a 1AA team) FIU:+2 MTSU:+3 Troy:+2 NT:+5 FAU:+2 With 5 1/2 points I see 4 not 5 additional wins. ASU won by 7. Troy 10-13 ULL 28-31 FAU 23-26 ULM 19-24 ASU 24-31

UNT football photos http://images.google.com/images?q=North+Te...en&lr=&filter=0

TECH THREAD http://www.latechbbb.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32290 ANOTHER TECH THREAD - See Dwayne from Minden's post on page 4 re: Title IX problems & an NCAA visit http://www.latechbbb.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32307

Hank is one of four finalist for AD at TAMU-Corpus Christi. Hank's already interviewed and the last interview will be completed today & tomorrow. Results should be know in the very near future.

From the MUTS site http://preseason.stassen.com/consensus/2006.html 1 Louisiana-Lafayette 2t North Texas 2t Troy 4 Arkansas State 5 Middle Tennessee 6 Fla. International 7 Louisiana-Monroe 8 Florida Atlantic

Careful . That could possibly be interpreted as positive news about the football program.

Post on the Sun Belt board by TJPCajunFan Got these 2005 attendance numbers from #1 preseason magazine Phil Steele's college football preview. Western Athletic Conference Conference Ave. 20,523 Fresno State 39,307 Hawaii 32,735 Boise State 30,048 Louisiana Tech 16,416 Idaho 15,175 Nevada 15,076 New Mexico State 12,556 San Jose State 12,506 Utah State 10,896 Sun Belt Conference Conference Ave. 15,719 Troy 19,425 Louisiana 17,591 North Texas 16,446 M. Tennessee 15,241 Arkansas State 15,477 Florida Int. 15,477 UL Monroe 14,617 Florida Atlantic 11,476 Mid America Conference Conference Ave. 14,408 Northern Ill. 22,176 Toledo 21,817 W. Michigan 18,906 Ohio 18,033 C. Michigan 15,971 Miami OH 15,241 B. Green 14,929 Ball State 12,953 Akron 10,889 Buffalo 8,914 Kent State 6,659 E. Michigan 6,413 SBC, WAC & MAC TOP 10 1. Fresno State 39,307 2. Hawaii 32,735 3. Boise State 30,048 4. Northern Ill. 22,176 5. Toledo 21,817 6. Troy 19,425 7. W. Michigan 18,906 8. Ohio 18,03 9. Louisiana 17,591 10. North Texas 16,446

Plans for FAU stadium, dorms, condos put on hold By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Thursday, June 15, 2006 BOCA RATON — Plans for a new football stadium, dorms, shops and even condominiums on FAU's Boca Raton campus were put on hold Wednesday by board of trustee members who complained the process was moving too fast and without their input. Last year, trustees chose to work with KUD International, a subsidiary of Japanese-based Kajima Corp., on a proposal under which the company would secure bond debt through a tax-exempt entity to build the facilities and then keep the profits for a specified time. But a presentation Wednesday of a proposal that included selling condos at Florida Atlantic University wasn't received well by trustees who, instead of giving the go-ahead for planning to continue, scuttled the deal until their questions could be answered at a September workshop. FULL ARTICLE http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/cont...uMeet_0615.html

Shush......don't tell him that, he loves to bi!#h

Perhaps you are the 'chosen one' and you do seem to enjoy the notoriety

SUNBELT CONFERENCE 2006 MEDIA GUIDE http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.d...0&ATCLID=293902

So ? And I just posted a different set of figures for the same period from another site.

This site shows different figures for ticket sales. Football.... $1,430,676 Basketball ....Mens $217,534, Women's 22,865....total $230,399 http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/InstDetail.asp?CRITERIA=3

You forgot this one Sporting News' Predicted Order of Finish: 1. ULL -- Ranked #93 2. UNT -- Ranked #95 3. MTSU -- Ranked #104 4. ASU -- Ranked #105 5. Troy -- Ranked #106 6. FIU -- Ranked #112 7. ULM -- Ranked #116 8. FAU -- Ranked #118 Sporting News' Recruiting Class Rank 1. Troy 2. FAU 3. ASU 4. ULL 5. FIU 6. ULM 7. UNT 8. MTSU

SMU has played more games (31) against UNT than any other team, excluding former SWC members Arkansas, Baylor, Rice, Texas, A&M, RCU & Texas Tech. The next closes is Missouri with 24. College Football Data Warehouse http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/co...t/opponents.php

Time to start thinking big Saturday, June 10, 2006 10:48 PM CDT Over the next two years people may drive around Western Kentucky and inevitably ask: Why are they building onto L.T. Smith Stadium when they can't even fill the stands they have now? Evolution is why. The Hilltoppers have outgrown their current home, packed to capacity or not. It's time to start moving forward or it's gonna be treading in quicksand for the foreseeable future. The $35 million renovation and construction project of Smith Stadium will put Western Kentucky on a collision course with opportunities that seem to be waiting just over the Big Red water tower. “This will open up a lot of doors,” WKU coach David Elson said. “This is now going to give us the big-time feel of Division I college football.” Talk of a potential move from Division I-AA football to a I-A conference is more than just bold hearsay, it's a reality within grasp. Even then some will still ask - Why? Why, when Western can challenge for a national championship in I-AA year in and year out, would it want to start fresh at the bottom of I-A? Playing “major” college football gives WKU a chance to become a full-time member of the largest spectator sport in all of college athletics. No longer a once a year cupcake, with its hand-and-chin-out kind of ordeal they currently find themselves in. With 22 more scholarships and drastically improved facilities, the Hilltoppers can not only bring in more players, but also go after the ones that used to be out of their league. Now, they'll be in the league. Moving to the Mid-American Conference, Conference USA or even the Sun Belt will provide an opportunity to earn a berth in a nationally televised bowl game. With the Bowl Championship Series adding a fifth bowl game into the mix this season, schools from the above conferences can now play on college football's biggest stage, with a chance to make money that makes current cash flow look like bread crumbs. Each time you are driving down University Boulevard or the Avenue of Champions and gaze over at a surgically stripped Smith Stadium, start visualizing the possibilities. A beautiful Saturday afternoon, with, just for fun, say, Vanderbilt, coming up I-65 for a contest. If you are laughing, you can stop now, it's not out of the question. Even better, think about the return game the following year in Nashville. I smell a rivalry. My vision may be a little more farsighted than most, but competitive teams that are not in the BCS conferences earn the right to play those types of games. Just look at your upcoming 2006 schedules and you'll see it for yourself. I can even envision a day when the Toppers get a crack at Kentucky, and if that doesn't get your motor running, then nothing will. It's game time, and here come the Hilltoppers running out to a packed house of over 25,000 screaming fans. The entire lower level of the current Smith Stadium is electrified with 5,000 rabid students (WKU administration considering), giving the visitors' bench a heckling that would make Chris Rock proud. Can you see an ESPN broadcast beaming a conference championship game right from Bowling Green for everyone nationwide to see? Ratings for that game would be better than even a I-AA national championship game. I-AA is great football. Anyone who's attended a Hilltopper game in the past can tell you that. But the fact of the matter is it receives a fraction of the attention or exposure of I-A football. Just two years ago, ESPN's “College Gameday” crew of Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso broadcast live from Bowling Green - in Ohio. Bowling Green State and Western Kentucky share more than just the obvious. Both universities and towns are not all that big in size or spotlight, but both can share the same pigskin prowess. No reason to think otherwise. BGSU has had five consecutive winning seasons and has even cracked into and finished a season in the Top 25 during that span. It's not far-fetched to see the Hilltoppers enjoying such success at the next level. It may not come right away. The process will certainly have its ups and downs, but in the long run it's better to start moving forward than simply settle for where you're at.

from the BG Daily News: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Getting ready L.T. Smith Stadium undergoing renovations By NORM HANEY, The Daily News, nhaney@bgdailynews.com/783-3271 Saturday, June 10, 2006 10:48 PM CDT Western Kentucky football will never be the same again, starting now. A complete renovation and facelift project began earlier this month to L.T. Smith Stadium, home of Hilltopper football since 1968. Phase 1 of the project includes the sealing, coating and power washing of the concrete structure, which currently holds coaches' offices, locker rooms and weight room, as well as other classrooms and offices. That will help preserve what is already there. It's what's planned for the other side of the field that will be the real transformation. “We're moving,” WKU athletics director Wood Selig said. “We had to rehab our stadium. It was literally falling apart around us.” Once the upcoming season ends, construction will begin on a three-story building opposite the existing bleachers that will house 4,200 chair-back seats, 800 club-level luxury seats, a 10,000-square-foot weight room and a state-of-the-art training room, to name just a few of the luxuries. The project will cost an estimated $35 to $36 million and is scheduled to be completed by January 2008. The new building and renovation project will give Western a boost in spectator capacity and do much more for all 440 Hilltopper athletes and their faithful red-towel-waving fans. “We've had the one side of the stadium that looks great, but when you see that there's no other side it's kind of a bummer,” WKU coach David Elson said. Original plans included a three-story building at the end zone in front of the Avenue of Champions, which would have served many of the current plans and included a more modest set of bleachers on the west end of the field. Those plans were recently scrapped in favor of the new plan. Before major construction begins, the track will be moved across University Boulevard to the former football practice field, directly under the watchful eye of the Big Red water tower. The first two stories will hold the 4,200 chair-back seats running from end zone to end zone, and will be positioned closer to the field than the current bleachers. An expanded 30- to 35-foot-wide sidewalk will line the Avenue of Champions and lead fans to the new building. The main entrance will lead into the Hall of Champions, a two-story glassed-in area paying tribute to the history of Hilltopper football. Inside, another wall of glass will provide a bird's-eye view of the 10,000-square-foot weight room and sprint track, which will be visible to all and lit up with natural sunlight. “It won't be like a lot of other weight rooms that have that down-in-the-basement, dark, dingy, smelly feeling. It's going to have an open, lit feel to it,” Selig said. Continuing inside leads to the training room that runs from one 30-yard line to the other, offering everything from hydrotherapy pools and taping tables to rehab rooms and training staff offices to help athletes from all 20 of WKU's athletic programs. The training room will have two direct entrances onto the playing field. The second floor will be known as Harbaugh Hall, in honor of former Hilltopper coach Jack Harbaugh, and will house all of the football coaches' offices as well as the team's meeting rooms. The offense and defense will each have a large meeting room, which can collapse into one room big enough for the entire team to meet in. Each coach will have his own office spacious enough for each position player to comfortably attend. Elson and his staff were directly involved in planning the construction project, but especially Harbaugh Hall. “I've been involved in every meeting when the architect has been here,” Elson said. “We've barnstormed as far about logistics and making sure we're in a work environment that's efficient as possible.” Separating the first two floors and the club level will be an open concourse with a food court and restrooms for the lower-level seats. Club-level seating will offer a little bit of everything. Six rows of seating will be protected by an overhang if the outside elements are not cooperating. If the weather gets too bad, a glassed-in climate control area is directly above the seats and is spacious enough to easily hold all 800 club members. Inside, no luxury has been spared. Plasma TVs, tile and granite floors, mahogany woodwork, brass railings, a full kitchen and two full-service bars give the club level a country-club feel. “This will be one of the nicest club levels in all of sports, not just college, I'm talking pro and college,” Selig said. “It's going to be outrageous.” The end zone near University Boulevard will have a brick retaining wall with an elevated berm on the other side with a million-dollar replay board, much like the ones in E.A. Diddle Arena. It has yet to be decided, but students may be allowed to sit on the berm. A sidewalk will connect both sides of bleachers, starting at ground level and elevating to as high as 40 feet in the middle before descending at the other end. Other changes may include giving students the entire bottom level of the existing bleachers. In trying to create more of a home-field advantage that move would also include putting the visitors bench on the other side of the field, well within screaming distance of the student body. That idea has yet to be finalized, pending the input of students. “That could become a huge force every single time we take the field. They would literally be right on top of the other team,” Selig said. “If we fill that with 5,000 screaming students every game, then we would have a great atmosphere.” Renovations to the existing bleachers will include moving the lights from the interior of the stadium to the outside. The entire inside will be “gutted,” according to Selig, to make room for locker rooms for the men's and women's soccer and track teams. The bottom floor, where the current football locker rooms and coaching offices are located, will be the new home of the Physical Education and Recreation Department and take up two-thirds of that space. A computer lab and study hall will also be created for all student-athletes. The current restrooms and concession stands will be completely renovated as well. Once completed, the new Smith Stadium will be able to hold an estimated 25,000 fans. Much speculation about a potential move to I-A football has surrounded the construction project, and while both Selig and Elson don't deny the advantage of a bigger and better Smith Stadium, they insist the project was long overdue and necessary regardless of the future status of the program. “It certainly doesn't hurt us by any means,” Selig said. “We were going to do this regardless of affiliation at the I-AA or I-A level. It certainly helps us in recruiting and national reputation and regard because we will have arguably the best I-AA facility in the nation and one of the top 50 to 60 I-A facilities in the country.” A more subdued Elson looked to the future and is confident the team's opportunity to succeed at any level will be greatly improved with new and improved facilities. “I've always said we've had a lot of success with very average facilities, at best,” he said. “We have all of those things in place, and now you add a first-class facility and I just think the sky is the limit.”

State of the Sun Belt League's hierarchy, concerns stem from money By Adam Sparks sparks@dnj.com The Sun Belt Conference appears to be making a move in a Darwinian direction. With its addition of Division I-A football in 2001, the league was based on equal opportunity and a good Samaritan mentality. It took in fledgling I-A football schools and nursed them to the lower end of the nation's highest level of play. But the Sun Belt's slogan may now be moving toward natural selection and "Survival of the fittest" to better its midmajor species. Such a topic was raised at the league's recent spring meetings. "We looked at what we can all do in our own situations to raise our standards, and I looked around the room at each school as if to say, 'Where are you at on this?'" said Sun Belt Commissioner Wright Waters. "It's one thing to look at the top one, two, three teams in the league, but I'm concerned about what 11, 12 and 13 are doing to raise their standards to the rest. "It's a concern that too many schools aren't raising their standards, ... but I don't want to say it's only the bottom group that's a concern because everyone needs to up their expectations. When you raise the bar, it makes everyone else raise their expectations or look like fools." Money seems to be the root of both the league's hierarchy and its worries. Three of the richest Sun Belt schools, in terms of annual athletic budgets, — Western Kentucky, MTSU and North Texas — are also the leading trio in the league's All-Sports points standings since 2000. Others like Denver and Florida Atlantic have comparable budgets but have competed in limited sports in the conference. "There is some significance in the difference of resources," said MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro, whose previous football coaching staff in the 2005 season was the highest paid in the Sun Belt. "MTSU and Western Kentucky are always compared, and then North Texas has also made large strides with their facilities. Those three schools are usually the top three in the (Vic) Bubas Cup standings about every year. That's probably not a coincidence." The poorest I-A football league in the nation, the Sun Belt's 2004-05 annual athletic budgets ranged from Denver's $18.1 million to New Orleans' $4.2 million, and effects of Hurricane Katrina has even reduced the latter number by 20 percent for the 2006-07 fiscal year. However, even the more prosperous of the Sun Belt are struggling when compared to conferences one-half step above. While Western Kentucky, North Texas and MTSU each tout annual athletic budgets between $12 million-$15 million, Conference USA's average budget is more than $22 million, and major conferences like the SEC can reach as high as Florida's $73.8 million athletic budget in 2004-05. Those figures have further highlighted the conference's monetary misfortunes, especially in men's basketball. Sun Belt men's teams have not landed an at-large bid or won a game in the NCAA Tournament in more than a decade, letting other conferences take incentives for reaching further into the NCAA bracket. "That's definitely a financial issue because we're leaving huge amounts of money on the table," Waters said. According to a revenue study introduced at the league's spring meetings, the Sun Belt has been awarded six shares worth a total of $983,988 in NCAA Tournament money over the last six years, with one share equaling one team's appearance in each round of the Big Dance. The Sun Belt has been represented by only one team in the NCAA Tournament during the six-year study, and that team has been ousted in the first round each time. The $983,988 is divided among the member schools and the conference office. In comparison, the Big 12 conference was awarded $14,430,355 from 88 shares in the same six-year period. The Mid-American Conference had 11 shares for $1.8 million, the Western Athletic Conference had 20 shares and Conference USA 44 during the same span. "We also had a study ranking the 332 Division I (men's basketball) teams based on win-loss records. We had four in the top 100. ... MTSU was 172, but, of course, (coach Kermit Davis) has only been there for four years. (The Blue Raiders) were 103rd in the last three years," Waters said. "But even when you look at it in the short term, we need a cultural change and to raise expectations. "A winning record doesn't get you where you want to go. We can't accept a winning record as a good year. A good year means competing in the NCAA Tournament and winning." To compete more consistently on a national scale, the Sun Belt needs its poorer schools to catch up to the initiative of the more prosperous schools. Waters says that means spending more to buy home games, which will in turn sell more season tickets. "None are putting enough in the stands to balance their budget, and not every solution is going to work for every school," Waters said. "But one thing is for sure: You can't schedule your way into the NCAA Tournament. Only winning can get you in. But you can sure schedule yourself out of the NCAA. Each institution must find a schedule that allows winning." Massaro, whose Blue Raiders have bought a home basketball game against Tennessee State this season for $45,000, said each school must mold the league's plan to fit its own means. "Even if your budget is half of ours, there are things you can do within your schedule," Massaro said. "If the league gets multiple teams in the NCAA, it's well worth it. We're going to do it, and we hope others will, too." The league is in reasonable agreement that similar football issues aren't as serious as those in the league's traditionally strong sport. "I don't get real panicked about football. Football is only 5 years old, and it has to go through normal growing pains," Waters said. "I still feel good about it. Am I happy with it? No, but we're getting there. "We need to get smarter (in football) because even with 12 games, most are getting four money games. We need bowl eligible teams, and so the same scheduling concerns apply. But men's basketball has to be fixed. There's a history there we have to get back to." While admitting basketball's superior tradition in the Sun Belt, Davis sees the league's concerns stretching across numerous sports. "This was created as a basketball league. There's no question about that. But the biggest thing we all have to do is sell more season tickets. That's an issue everyone in our league faces," Davis said. "But still it goes back to raising standards. The point was made (at the spring meetings) that we need everyone to draw closer to the top teams in our league rather than aid the bottom teams. The league needs to make decisions based on how it will help emphasize the top three or four teams in the league. We can't lower our standards. "Look at Florida State football in the ACC. They couldn't be beaten by anybody in their league for years, but others raised their standards to beat them, and that changed the complexion of ACC football." But despite the mounting issues for the ever-changing league, the Sun Belt's key figures carry an optimistic view of the conference. "Back when we started, we put together something called Vision 2010, which is where we would like to be. We want to be a top-10 league in all sports, and I think we can still get there," Waters said. "Overall, we just need to be better organized and have a spirit of cooperation." After one year of headway at MTSU, Massaro believes one of the league's strongest suits is the athletic administration matching the conference's vision. "I see a lot of ambition with the ADs around this league," Massaro said. "That's what this league needs, and that can help get us to that vision." — Adam Sparks, 278-5167 http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../606110329/1006

It's a multi-purpose facility & convention center. Also the home of the CC-Rayz (minor league hockey) and CC-Hammerheads (arena football).