Eagle1855

Oh yeah, I'd completely forgotten about that debacle in the Park Cities. Now I can add that back to my list of depressing road games I've witnessed in person. At some point, God is going to reward us for our faithfulness. Or we'll continue to suffer for our stubborn stupidity. One.

Fourth most popular or fourth most populous? Because we're hardly known outside the DFW area. But I agree with the rest of what you said and while I'm not an athlete in any sense of the word, they are many of the reasons why I went to UNT -- and stayed at UNT. So you don't have to sell me. My initial question was mostly rhetorical. I love UNT. I could give anyone who asked me why a long list of reasons. So I'll offer another question: why can't we sell it to football players? Why do guys pick "area" Louisiana schools not named LSU over UNT? Is it really as simple as a culture of winning? Or does local talent prefer to stay close to home... but not so close they are playing in their own backyard? What the hell makes this job so "hard?"

I would assume most people who go to Rice aren't that concerned with the stands being filled -- football players included. Most C-USA players aren't going to make a living playing football. So you choose a school that has value after the days of playing are over. Rice has that. And Rice will always have that. So, what does NT offer above and beyond other peer institutions? Why is Coach Mac (and others) wrong about UNT being a tough place to recruit to? Aside from "because we all think otherwise."

Rice is a tough place to play. You can actually understand exactly what each of the 43 people in the stands is saying when they cheer. It can be startling when you're used to playing in front of thousands.

I always assumed Tech just did whatever UT told it to do. But that's a definitely a consideration. Although, I would have thought Tech would have had a greater objection to TCU...

Exactly. I still wouldn't rule out UH ending up in the Big 12 if their hand is forced to expand. A&M and LSU represent a large group of eyes in southeast Texas. If UH is indeed a "sleeping giant" the way we imagine/fantasize that UNT is in DFW, it makes all the sense in the world for UH to get the call up to bigs.

So is the thought that UT wants to pay players more money so that they come to Austin instead of going to schools like UNT or UH? Because they're already going to Austin instead. They don't need to pay players a dime to sell the UT football program. UT has no desire to run up the $ price for college athletes. No college wants to spend money on what they've been getting free since the beginning of time. I think this board is dealing with severe paranoia. No one's out to get us. Everyone's out for themselves. And every college will get behind the appeal of the O'Bannon ruling. And if it is upheld, you can be certain the less fortunate P5 schools aren't going to let UT, Ohio State, and others run a limitless payroll.

Oh, I don't know that the SEC wouldn't mind grabbing a piece of that DFW market... They've already got a hold of Houston, minus Longhorn fans.

This. And they shouldn't. Does anyone honestly believe Marshall is the 4th best team in the country? Or even the 10th? I don't. As I said before, if La Tech had gone undefeated, they'd have been impossible to deny. But Marshall hasn't played a meaningful game all season.

Beautiful weather and the sun coming up again on Sunday.

I was with you 100% til this. I think people never took us seriously because we never made anyone take us seriously. The move back to 1AA is all the evidence you need. We're largely where we are by our own choosing. We weren't UH or TCU. We didn't have a seat at the table that was taken from us. The second half of this quote is basically the crux of all of it: weak foresight. Maybe it would have all looked different if we'd secured a spot in the SWC. Maybe. But the admin didn't want to spend the time, money, whatever to make it happen. We can blame SMU. But really, it all comes back to the same place. So we move on. And I think we do the very best we can, be the best of the rest in our little slice of heaven. That's not a give-up in any sense of the word. It's realizing our place in the world is not that of Texas A&M or Texas Tech. But that it can be that of Boise, BYU, Marshall and others. And I think we are on track for that with the investments that have been made. We just need a big season. An actual big season.

You know what? I'm jealous. I'm jealous someone else always gets to make the splash hire. I admit my jealousy. And I wish our admin was half as delusional as that of SMU. And yeah, they're probably not going anywhere new anytime soon... but if conferences indeed make the move to 16, they're a nice fit for the ever-expanding SEC footprint. Just saying...

I'm 6'3" and I can hand off a ball as good as anyone. Not very fast but I can underthrow passes like you wouldn't believe. And I wouldn't mind finishing my Masters on someone else's dime.

Right, but then there's no buy-out. Think KU is missing Mangino a bit?

It sounds like they wanted to "make him an offer he couldn't refuse."

Im actually not in favor of any of it. I'd like to go back to when money had nothing to do with college athletics. And I'd like there to be an actual NFL farm system so that people with immense athletic talent who can't even read a book aren't able to get into schools like Texas to play sports, and are instead fast-tracked to the NFL. But that's not realistic, anymore. So my comments are based solely on what appears to be inevitable.

Or, it will teach them a valuable lesson about work, and how when you work hard, you get paid. And if you screw up, you get cut (fired), and the pay disappears. You can argue it both ways. It isn't the school's job to teach people how to budget and handle money. Learning such things is a byproduct of the college experience at large. It isn't the focal point. I fail to see how paying scholarship athletes teaches the value of an education. Let's be real: being a D-1 college football player is already the furthest thing from a traditional college experience at a four-year university. The O'Bannon decision underscores that fact.

Also, we're a long way off from this happening. There are a lot of discussions to be had amongst University's administrations. And the college lobby is strong. There's always a possibility this is ruling is overturned on appeals. Even if it isn't, like everything, we'll adapt.

I think if a reasonable ceiling is put in place, I can get on board with this. But I am fully aware of the fact that this forever changes the game. Also aware of the fact that the game was forever changed as soon as the conferences started raking in millions with TV deals. It's a mess. And college football as we once knew it is in fact dead. Whether or not this new version will be new AND improved remains to be seen. But doesn't bode well for schools like UNT... ...unless a renewed commitment is made, followed by a signifiant capital drive. AND RAISING THE ATHLETIC FEE. At that point the U will have to ask itself if it's all worth it.

In the interest of truth, instead of reactionary emotional outbursts: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/longhorns/2014/10/pattersons-stipend-comments-misconstrued/

I intend to go by it. I'm a bit disappointed there weren't any plans for a Friday evening rally. And if there were, I'm a bit disappointed I never heard about it, since I'm a member of the exes and on every mail list I've been able to find. So we'll throw our own unofficial party.

Just a heads-up: we're playing a music show at a friendly icehouse-style joint called Jackson's Watering Hole this Friday evening, which is located just 1.7 miles from Rice U. 9pm-11pm. Add'l details here. If you want any recommendations as to restaurants or must-see places in town, I'm glad to offer up what I know. While it's not much of a tourist destination, Houston can be a great place to visit -- if you know where to go. The weather should be absolutely perfect. The Rice & West U area, as well as the adjacent Museum District are truly the city's highlights, in my opinion. (and excuse the shameless self-promo... to my credit, I cleared it with Harry before posting)

Hall was good because he did exactly what a Dickey-led team needed. The entire game plan was predicated on a successful run game that set up the play-action passes -- that Scott ran quite well. He was a good QB. But when the run game failed, that entire offense failed.

No. We really haven't. Great is not a word I'd use for any UNT QB in the past 20 years. We've had a couple guys play well. And we've had a couple others who helped the team succeed by not making big mistakes. But we've never had a QB the team rallies around that goes out and changes games by himself, like many of our mid-major peers (UH, UTSA, Texas State -- while at the 1AA level, and ULL all come to mind -- and that's just regionally-speaking). It would be a lot of fun to see at UNT. And I think that's what we all hoped we had -- and may still have -- in Dajon.

I'd buy that if we were a really good academic institution. Or anywhere near Tier One Status. Or if we had an actual plan to become a Tier One academic powerhouse... Or if UT and A&M weren't already doing both academics and athletics quite well. Or if UH wasn't working towards achieving both (with much greater success than us). So... I don't know what the admin at this school wants. But I know they approved spending a boatload on athletic buildings, a stadium, and the *alleged* addition of another program in baseball. I think they just waited too long. But I don't believe academics and athletics are mutually exclusive. And I think Dr Pohl understood that quite well.