Aquila_Viridis

So my point being that as a university our goal should be to move UP not down, I wanted to get a sense of what we would be looking at further up the totem pole. I realize that getting such associations has challenges and even downsides in some cases. There is a reason SMU doesn't want to be associated with us. SMU is much more highly ranked as a university. Now why they would have that view and not feel the same about Houston, I can only attribute to us being in their backyard. Leaving out the true big conference schools, and forgetting all the barriers, here are some with which UNT should reasonably aspire to associate as a UNIVERSITY since they are ranked higher, but not too much higher, as such than UNT: Bowling Green Ball State LT (hurts doesn't it) SDSU UAB UCF Temple Cincinnati Idaho (ouch) Louisville USF Utah State Hawaii Nevada Wyoming CSU Buffalo Ohio (reach) And by the same standard here are some with which UNT SHOULD currently associate, though some are slighlty lower than NT: NMSU ECU (lower) Houston Memphis (lower) USM (lower) UNLV Of course, there are lesser schools that have better sporting success and recognition, and there are higher programs that have small or no sports programs. (I don't think we can count on an Ivy League invite.) One thing is clear to me: as a university we do not belong in the Sun Belt; it is weighing us down. If we don't get into CUSAMWC (where by the way there is some riffraff from our vantage point) then we should be talking to the best of MAC and remaining WAC, maybe take a couple of Belt schools and try to pick off one or two from the CUSAMWC, all to form a new conference that is better for all. If we're going to help anyone move up there would be a lot of candidates that are much better schools than Texas State or UTSA and even ranked ahead of NT. If you want local competition, go see games on Friday night. You will note that the crowds are usually not very big.

Oh and yes I do expect 'vitriolic hatred' from those institutions.

I read recently that we are offering a green light to greatness. Promoting Texas State and UTSA is a red light that leads to ruin. North Texas is a much better UNIVERSITY than those remedial institutions. This should be the last time that those two schools are mentioned in the same breath as UNT. Please feel free to mention them with Sam, SFA and UTA though. Then your words will make sense. If you think that associating with those institutions is necessary for North Texas' wellbeing, then you don't get it. You have no idea what you're talking about. You are trying to put the cart before the horse and let the tail wag the dog. Don't be stupid.

Thanks for the pic. What is being lost in this discussion is that, for the benefit of the few who were there, apparently some hookers showed up.

Oh man I wasn't talking about ancient history; I mean right now, and yes, not just sports. UT is no supporter of UNT, for anything. UT is a supporter (to a controlled extent of course) of UTA and UTD, with one important effect being to dilute the market for UNT.

Let's face it. We've earned our lack of respect. If the SMUs, UTs, A&Ms and Texas Techs of the world have kept UNT down it's cause we didn't care enough to do something about it and weren't effective in countering it. That said, I have absolutely no doubt that every day representatives of those schools are working against the interests of UNT and thus against the citizens of the North Texas region. For that you get hate but you are not alone.

If realignment does not produce something positive for UNT this time around, don't give up. Ultimately if UNT can get enough people who have a connection with UNT and live in the North Texas region to care about the sports programs' representation of them, then UNT cannot be held down. It is within our own control and that is basically what the Neinas report said. Establishing such affinity is something that every university has to do; some are better at it than others. Baylor and TCU didn't start winning because they were winning. They started winning because enough people wanted to see them winning. Our vision and desire is not shared by enough other people yet.

Update: speculation on the PineNet is that a radar is something that may be used by police to check for sobriety.

And in other news the Nacogdoches paper is reporting that someone carved a note on a pine tree saying that SFA may be on the Big 12's radar. Someone else carved another note below it asking what a radar is.

I'll be surprised if it's anything other than a roadmap for achieving the requirements for Tier 1 status. Though if it is a good and workable plan to do so, that is certainly something worthwhile to have. I used to be a lot more concerned about NT's dismal status in football than about the academic reputation. I really studied the academic rankings this year as I have a HS senior. We are in much worse shape from that perspective. Of course I have also recognized the connection between the two and I believe the sports competition is one way of generating interest that can open pathways to increasing the endowment. A few years ago I tried matching my support to athletics with equal donation to academics. It was painful and I hate to say there is once again imbalance. However, that should be a goal for any supporter of NT's sports programs. I am sure many though are even exceeding such a goal and I hope to get there too.

I agree with the concept though I don't agree with Troy being one of our lesser tier schools. Monroe needs to be buried. All the Cajun fans need to Occupy Baton Rouge until they can jettison the - Lafayette name. However it still leaves only three Belt schools that sound like real competition. I think a conference upgrade can only tolerate maybe one directional school, and of course that would be us. Instead of upgrading the Belt, the four schools form a new conference, taking the most serious sounding from the WAC and MAC: Arkansas State Troy Louisiana North Texas New Mexico State Louisiana Tech Idaho Ohio then add whatever else from the WAC and MAC to round it out. Utah State if available, Toledo, Bowling Green? Sure it's spread out, but look what the MWC and CUSA monstrosity will be like. For a MAC team that would be a way to break from overconcentration and to separate themselves from the others who are locked in decades of subpar status with no end in sight. For us it is a way to kill UTSA and TX State which is way more important than many of you realize. Just look at how that would compare to the conference lineup we have now. Noone is going to take us seriously playing Middle Tennessee, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Western Kentucky, South Alabama, etc. And no more weird basketball affiliations. At least when you're NORTH Texas, that's a region more substantial than most whole states. WE HAVE TO BREAK FROM MOST OF THIS CONFERENCE!

I was really happy when he hit that kick. That was a great showing by a program that has a lot of purple and yellow adversity going against it. Nice win for themselves and the conference. Really entertaining game!

I should add that if North Texas seceded from the rest of Texas I would leave Austin immediately and move to North Texas.

UTA should be UNTA. UT should get out of UNT's region and turn over its campuses to the UNT system. Otherwise we should annihilate them.

I like the letter. I take the message to be: 'people of our region, get behind the region's representatives in the arena of college sports.' It so happens that UNT is best situated among the three to represent by far the most people in the region, so UNT by far has the most to gain from this (diplomatically) collective message. This should be followed by an aggressive saturation campaign of the eagle logo. Maybe AA will take money to drop leaflets. I think the trustee would have to consider any offers.

Where did they get that kind of money in Jonesboro???? Talk about upping the ante. They are serious!

The BCS bowl performance cited is attributable to members that are leaving the conference.

Whenever I watch NT BB and they win I am astounded because they do not move the ball around with a collective purpose. That TT game was some of the worst basketball I have seen by two teams so this result didn't surprise me. I don't think I want to go next Tuesday.

Oh and one more thing. UTSA is the pro team that SA didn't get when they built the Adome. They are still trying to justify it. When the novelty wears off and the people realize it is not ACTUALLY a pro team or any semblance of the same, there will be a precipitous decline.

One issue we have relative to other schools is that there really aren't too many people out there ASPIRING to attend North Texas. I think a lot of them end up there who wanted to go somewhere else, though maybe they didn't want that bad enough. Some of them - very few it seems - will end up coming around and being thankful that NT was there to help them along the road of life. On the other hand, I know some people, who for whatever reason, aspire to attend places like Baylor. Maybe NT should get more selective and send some more of the other type people to TX State or SFA.

If you want regional rivalries, we could just start playing on Friday nights. Now to your point, the attendance might be about the same as the other night. :-)

Maybe our coaches should drink more. Hard to believe I will end up driving 7 hours round trip for this. I hope no one from CUSA or MWC was there.

NT is so much larger and more of a significant university than several schools already in conferences that we would like to move up to. How can we possibly not have gotten there already? UTEP, Memphis, Southern Miss and Louisville for example are each only half the undergraduate enrollment of NT. Wyoming is a tiny little school, around 8,000 undergraduates. It is also astonishing that some of our little current conference mates are able to keep up with us. Monroe only has about 7,000 undergraduates and stAte only 8,000. We have to do better. North Texas has like 22,000 undergraduates and I'm not even counting the 6,000 part-time students. Certainly bigger than Alabama and LSU. Why can't we generate that kind of spirit and support? If it's because of the lack of tradition and TV exposure then NT needs to make it a priority to find other ways to reach people. There's got to be at least 2 million people within a 20-mile radius of that school. North Texas should be in their faces all the time. I feel like these conference officials must be going 'what is wrong with you people?'

Someone please paint a rosy picture for what the path forward will be if we do NOT get into CUSA or MWC. I am not being sarcastic. I think I need an emotional landing zone just in case.

Sorry but he's pissed himself almost down to his knees. Coaching is not all he's doing on the field.