johnnylightnin

Amen...but, don't kid yourself, ULM has no place to turn their noses down at anyone with regard to facilities. Better late than never.

Oh, I guess you haven't heard. There will be new tennis courts and track facilities...all part of a 50 million dollar project. The state has already approved it. Slams on an athletic program from an ASU fan are always amusing.

How clever.

How bout this? Big 10 adds Louisville. BE adds Memphis AND UCF. CUSA adds Tech and UNT.

If Missouri is added, look for the Big XII to go real hard at Arkansas. And, Arkansas just might jump. The distribution difference b/w the SEC and the Big XII is only about a million per school...which is big bucks to us, but not to Arkansas. If Arkansas said no, the Big XII would be in a REAL bind. Tulsa and TCU have all the makings to be just like Baylor...the Big XII is certainly not interested in that. As stated before, Utah doesn't have the following of BYU, but BYU would be too hard to work with. A dark-horse candidate could be Colorado State. If the Big XII added anyone from the MWC, the MWC would likely go after Boise, Fresno, Nevada, and UTEP (in that order). If any of the WAC teams jumped, a spot would be open in the WAC. If that spot didn't go to an eastern team, Tech would likely start looking SERIOUSLY at a new conference. Most other scenarios end up raiding CUSA...again. And, ND would NEVER join the Big 10 voluntarily. Unless the NCAA mandates that they join a conference, it won't happen. No TV deal is worth splitting their money.

Yeah, the football only thing is the snag for UCF and Memphis. Either school would be a great addition, but the basketball schools won't vote for an additional all-sports member. If they add a football only, only the football schools vote. ECU is the natural football-only fit. They are a football school in a market that the Big East doesn't have a hold of. I think that after a year or two, the football members will demand an additional school. ECU is basically the only choice.

Names certainly mean something...if they didn't, CUSA wouldn't have the TV deal that they do. They were clearly the no. 3 non-AQ conference this year (in football), yet they have a better TV deal and better bowl tie-ins. I could see a new conference working, but securing bowl tie-ins is the key...that and the TV contract. Oh, and Louisiana Tech fans wouldn't be nearly as strongly against being in a conference with ULL as they are against being in a conference with ULM. Also, I don't think that CUSA member-relations are as strained as some here seem to think. The prime mover in any CUSA reshuffling will be the big east adding a football only school. It's getting closer. Before long, they'll likely cave and ECU. Then, TCU will have the right of first refusal...just because. They'll likely turn it down (foolishly, IMO) and then CUSA will look around to replace ECU. They could go with a western (read Texas) school and sent Tulane back to the east. It'll all depend on who's hot (facilities and performance wise) when the big east moves.

Congrats guys. I see a lot of similarity b/w UNT and Tech right now as it relates to fanbase excitement level. Are y'all concerned about losing these kids if a bigger school comes calling? We've already lost one and it blows. As an objective (at least with regards to UNT) outsider, I fully expect y'all to challenge for the Sunbelt championship this year. Good luck.

I thought the announcers did a poor job of keeping the audience informed about who was who. Now, if a player had signed with an SEC or Big XII team, they talked about that. Oh well...it was a fun game to watch.

Bayou Bowl will be on NFL Network tonight at 9 EST. Thought y'all might be interested.

Whoever wrote this article is an idiot. SJSU won 9 games last season.

Hey, if you don't have to have them in your facilities, it's not a big deal.

?????? What are you talking about? Play Fresno (a conference mate) twice? Hawaii is a VERY tough place to play. And, this late, I doubt it would be an equitable deal...a one and done type thing. They've got 12 scheduled, but they are allowed 13 every year. If I were the AD, I wouldn't do it, but I'm not the AD.

It's flattering to be of interest.. I believe ULM picked up their first committment late yesterday. http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=346&p=8&a...amp;nid=3184358

Sure, some of it is his opinion. The parts about maintaining our relationship with SMU, Rice, UTEP, and Tulsa is not opinion. And, the fact that we are obviously persuing CUSA isn't opinion either.

Here's an "article" that's related to our discussion. http://www.latechreport.com/news.php?id=69

CUSA was NOT prepared to stay at eleven. I don't doubt that some Memphis fans claimed that, but its simply not true. Why? CUSA wants to be a football conference. And, they want a championship game. To have a championship game, you MUST have 12 teams. CUSA wasn't gonna stay at 11. Troy would be an interesting pick-up, but I would imagine the eWAC would vote Tech in over Troy. Particularly if Tech improves facilities (which we are currently doing) and starts winning (which we are about to start doing). As far as Tech in the WAC...don't worry about that. We've got the funds to do what needs to be done. Our big money guys have NO interest in going to the sunbelt and they have the means to insure that Tech is stable regardless of where they are. Travel costs suck, but bowl revenue, NCAA tourney revenue, and TV contracts are nice. And, they more than make up for our travel costs.

I agree.

According to my link, UNT total revenue was: $10,643,248 in 04/05...Tech's was: $11,009,487 Regardless...the point in posting was to show that in 04/05, there were three CUSA schools (one being a new member) that had budgets less than 20 million.

You too.

You're wrong.

I don't have a ton of time right now Stebo, so I can't address everything you've posted. Our not playing the e-WAC teams is because our AD (soon to be former AD) wouldn't shell out to get good deals with similar teams. He lived and died by the body-bag games...and, in the end, I believe that strategy has cost him his job. You said that our recruiting has suffered...nothing could be further from the truth. Even under bicknell, we pulled down the second best class in Louisiana every year...far better than the UL-Twins.

The bolded section is where you are totally off-base. The e-WAC voted UTEP in, they didn't fail to vote for Tech (and, the reports we got from our administration were that the vote for UTEP was very close...6-5). Louisiana Tech would be voted on if UTEP had not gotten in. It's as simple as that. At least 5 schools wanted Tech in. UTEP would make #6. Plus, Louisiana Tech is a lot further along than they were when the last vacancy came up. We've made many facility improvements with many more planned. Our season ticket sales are up and our there's a campaign to raise our CHAMPS funds. Listen, I think UNT has a fine athletic program. I've already expressed my lament that they didn't join the WAC. That said, the e-WAC schools will vote for Tech over UNT. Our administration has maintained good relationships with the e-WAC schools. Further, our president has a great relationship with their presidents (remember, the presidents do the voting, not the ADs). Whether UNT "deserves" the votes from the e-WAC schools is a separate issue (which I'll be glad to discuss if you'd like...I'm a bigger fan of UNT than you probably realize).

Here's the link. It works on my computer... http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial_reports/ These figures are from 2005 I believe and they show that Tech's athletic budget is larger than UNTs. So, you must've done quite a bit of work in the last year. As far as the by-law, I call BS on it. By your own admission, it's based on a second hand account and it is contridictory to the fact that three CUSA members have budgets lower than what you claim. Further, those are only the public schools...the link doesn't have the numbers for Tulsa, Rice, Tulane, or SMU.

crickets