untjim1995

Neither has much choice. I guess they could go independent or make it to where those schools weren't in their divisions, but if they would prefer to not exist as a program over not playing with another school they look down on, I'm sure that NMSU and ULM wouldn't mind. Besides, at some point, schools like Sam Houston and SFA will want to move up from FCS. Totally agree...

I think it would be great for us if we can get his thing tighter, from a geographical standpoint. Assuming we cannot move up to the MWC or AAC, which is what I believe is the case because of the Texas ties currently in the AAC and the future availability of Texas schools for the MWC to choose from the inevitable Big XII implosion, this scenario needs to happen ASAP. Schools like UTEP and La Tech cannot look down their noses anymore at NMSU or ULM--they don't have that kind of clout. UTEP, NMSU, UTSA, Texas State, Rice, and UNT in the West La Tech, ULL, ULM, Arkansas State, USM, and UAB in the East Troy, USA, FIU, FAU, Ga State, and Ga Southern in the South Marshall, MUTS, WKU, ODU, Charlotte, and Appy State in the North It all just makes too much sense from a cost standpoint, from a travel standpoint, and from a rivalry/attendance standpoint. Benefits the schools, the players, coaches, staff, and fans.

The AAC doesn't have to merge yet because they have a lot more revenue than the lower G5s--same with the MWC. Plus, both leagues will really stand to do better after the Big XII falls apart and they can add some solid pieces both in Texas and in the Midwest. I figure that will keep them able to continue playing the Power teams in OOC and in bowls. The rest of us will be the next level of play, but will have a chance to win a national championship which we don't now. Of course, people may not care, but it's the decisions we didn't make back in the 80s and 90s that determined our situation. We can still follow and support our alma mater, even if it isn't at the top level of play again. This isn't being I-aa in the SLC at the same time as the SWC and Big Eight being dominant. Very different today than it was back then.

Something like this is a matter of when... I know there are a lot of fans that don't want to associate with the old SBC teams, but it's a natural fit.

Best thing we and the others in the G5 can do is just live stream all games and make the priority be on cost cutting for travel and more regionalized conference opponents. We don't need to be playing Marshall, ODU, Charlotte, F_U, or any other eastern SBCUSA team as a conference opponent. Neither does Utep, UTSA, or La Tech. Until that gets fixed, this lack of TV and other media will just get more problematic. Fans of G5 schools, especially in the MAC, CUSA, and the SBC, need to figure this out soon. It won't get better, it's just gonna get worse.

So we can't seem to ever hire coaches that can recruit here? Or is it just maybe that we hire coaches who realize that they cannot get recruits to listen or consider us as a last FBS resort? I mean, we have been at this level of play now for over 22 years and nothing really changes in our recruiting rankings. Hire different coaches, Get a new conference, go to bowls, move into a new stadium, change the offensive schemes, etc...and nothing ever changes with our recruiting rankings. At some point, you have to at least ponder the question of how our program never makes decent leaps in recruiting, even against other G5s. We broke McCarney down after he had seen three years of significant rebuilding culminate in a 9-win, HoD Bowl victory season provide exactly zero with TX HS recruits and their coaches and parents. The guy went from Uber positive ever where he went about UNT, to being Darrell Dickey 2.0 by the time his 4th season here was in full swing. Maybe Littrell will get better as a recruiter, along with his staff, but he's gotta beat decades of apathy and negativity to fully turn this around to where it was back in the late 70s.

It isn't like Dodge's recruiting classes--he got legit FBS talent for offensive skill positions. Dickey, McCarney, and now Littrell all appear to be hammered by the UNT Apathy/Loser monster that exists with TX HS Coaches and Parents. Decades of not caring, caring very little, and now caring some, have combined to cause this. Only Dodge, because of his SLC run and reputation, was able to recruit better than anyone else here. HE just couldn't coach that talent at all, much less how to run a defense at this level. Seth Littrell has one option here--follow the Johnny Jones plan of coaching up what you can get and opening the doors to football players that want to transfer back near home, then start winning and opening up the door to get solid TX HS recruits to listen to you. Right now, Littrell doesn't have the pedigree or reputation to even sway these TX HS Coaches and parents because of the program's history. If he can fix that, while also winning here, he will have his choice of Power Conference head coaching jobs at his feet. If not, he will have his choice of assistant coaching jobs at his feet. Its that simple. Frank Wilson is selling kids on the idea that they are on the ground floor at a school who wants to win at football, will bring in legitimate competition that these kids and their families have heard of in OOC play, and will play in a city that is showing support for them. And these TX HS coaches know him from his LSU days, so he can get their attention pretty easily. Littrell cannot do that because he cannot offer these recruits what Wilson can offer. Now, if UTSA falls flat on their face, while we keep progressing upward, that can change. But the fact is that TX HS Coaches know two things about UNT Football--we dropped down to I-aa for a long time and when we moved up, we lost a lot of games to teams that their kids have heard of and followed in their lifetime. UTSA doesn't have that problem--yet. If the losing part comes into vogue for awhile, and we can start winning significantly, that might do the trick. But for now, recruiting here is just a tough gig because of our reputation. Its gonna take a coach, hopefully Littrell, to change this by winning big, but he's gotta do it with low-rated HS recruits, JUCO kids, and transfers until these TX HS coaches and parents will change their views on us.

We chose Shanice Stephens over Vic Schafer...one lost to TWU, the other just beat UConn to end a 111 game winning streak. As we say, only at North Texas...

I know that a lot of guys just want to see UNT and feel excited...

Dixon is a great coach--he knew that winning at Pitt was going to get much harder because of the ACC schedule, which was an upgrade from the old Big East. Basically, Pitt, Syracuse, and Louisville traded away UConn, Georgetown, Villanova, and others for UNC, Duke, UVa, and the rest. TCU was home and they made a great commitment. Dixon should do great things for them. Their ceiling is much higher than SMUs, just from conference affiliation. I actually believe they can become even better than Baylor, just because Dixon is 100x the game coach that Drew is...his bibles full of cash bring in lots of talent, but his x's and o's are on par with any of the best "roll out the ball rack and play" coaches we have ever seen.

Youth today...next thing we will hear is that we expect Wilson to have a better year than Jamario had his freshman year...

This is what Benford is supposed to be--a recruiter at a Power Conference school with lots of resources and a plethora of talent surrounding him. He doesn't need to x's and o's anything and Will Wade won't ask him to do that. He will plant him in every gym in LA, MS, and TX to get the Tigers some great talent. Thanks again, RV...the $hittiest of his hires, if you ask me. Worse than Dodge just due to what he took over and what he left behind--with absolutely no success at all and an attendance plummet that may not be recovered here for years ahead, if ever...

The biggest leaps forward are going from awful to not awful...see Littrell's first football season here as proof. We basically improved 5 games--the last year of Mac/Chico saw us win one game because of miraculous circumstances (UTSA playing their 4th string QB in the second half let us win a game by a TD at home or else we are winless). I suspect that McCasland's first year here will look a lot like Jankovich did here in his first season after Gales was fired in 1994, as well as Johnny Jones after Trilli. Both coaches went .500 or better in their first season, where the kids that stayed were excited as hell to have new coaches that were excited to be here. I suspect that will occur here, somewhere in the .500 range. I will say this about the NIT when it comes to propelling a program forward. I've seen A&M, Wichita State, Baylor, and SMU use it to make major strides forward. I suspect that UTA and TCU will do the same, especially TCU, who has money, resources, conference pedigree, and ESPECIALLY a great head coach with great name recognition. It must be nice to have money and the interest of BMDs to care about revenue sports that way...

I think we can agree that Earl Campbell, Billy Sims, Eric Dickerson, LaDanian Tomlinson, and Adrian Peterson are the best running backs from Texas HS that went on to have incredible college and NFL careers. Maybe more to add to the list, but not looking at HS, but after that, these 5 are the ones that really stand out to me since the full integration of major college football in this state.

I'm very glad that we got this going instead of trying to start up baseball. The priority needs to be football, then mens hoops, and then womens hoops...in that exact order.

I'm sure Baylor will come calling, eventually, if the timing works for them and him...

TCU advanced to the NIT Semifinals in NYC with last night's win. IF UTA wins at home against Cal-State Bakersfield, they will also go to the NIT Semifinals in MSG. Its entirely possible that these two could play each other for the NIT Championship. Coach McCasland, welcome back to DFW...you, like SL, are inheriting a sinkhole of a program, but you have even more local teams that are very good to throw dirt down you. Good luck, coach--because you are gonna need a train full of it to rebuild this situation.

MUTS has quite an NCAA history--they have beaten UK, Florida State, and Michigan State in the tournament. Some teams, like Richmond or UALR, for example, when they make the tournament, they tend to make some noise.

It's really going to be interesting to see how this all plays out when the Big XII finally dies off and the Power leagues start their next wave of separation. I've always believed that it's very possible that the Power Leagues won't play any of us anymore, or will only let certain leagues still play them, so as to get the revenue from not having a TV deal worth anything major. CUSA and SBC have no choice but to realign geographically. The MAC geographical model is the one to follow here. It wouldn't surprise one bit to never see a Texas tech play here in 2027 or 2028, whenever it is set on the schedule, unless tech gets left behind, too. I tell you what, the real worry for schools like us is that the NCAA Tournament and College Baseball Playoffs get closed to us. At that point, and nobody knows, but it's gonna really be tough to have much of a fan following.

RV would have had us play TWO games at Bama for this sum of cash...

Its kind of funny--the folks at UConn want out of the AAC to go back to the Big East because they believe the conference is run down now--which is true. The folks at Southern Miss and Marshall don't like CUSA because its become SBC 2.0, but they can't do much about it because they have no TV market to sell the AAC. And the folks at Arkansas State and ULL can't believe they are stuck still in the SBC while UNT, MUTS, WKU, and the F_Us got away. Until these conferences realize that geographic realignment is their only way to move forward, it will continue to be this way--too many people in the AAC and CUSA look down their noses at other schools being aligned with them in conferences...it really is cutting off your nose to spite your face, in most cases.

You aren't, but they just don't have the money or the media love...

I think Kaspar would be a nice fit here. He's probably as good as we can get, to be honest.

It has always been a matter of when...look at the NCAA Tournament. The bubble teams that got in were almost entirely from the Power 6 (includes Big East). UTA, Monmouth, and Illinois State are among teams that couldn't get into a party that 15-loss Vanderbilt got invited to. Instead, we get USC, K-State, Providence, and Wake Forest as entries. No lawsuit is changing this. They control the networks, the legislatures, and the media.

Equal to Benford?