untjim1995

I think we can all agree that the best case scenario here is that we get that invite to CUSA, with the next best possibility being to get invited to the MWC. The worst case scenario is for CUSA to expand with La Tech. Most of us believe that we are the perfect fit here, but La Tech has more name recognition because of their success in recent years. By the way, this is why we should root big-time for TCU to destroy them in their bowl game--anything that makes them look good (and a bowl win over a ranked TCU team would do that big time) is a huge punch to the gut for us. If we were to be stuck in the SBC as it currenty sits, with no local teams to help with attendance issues and travel costs, our situation will not get any better long-term. Again, I know people hate the idea of playing in a conference with UTSA and Texas State, but the upside of finally getting in-state conference mates that provides easy travel for fans is huge to me. A SBC with La Tech, Texas State, UTSA, and NMSU would make me feel much better about staying in the SBC. But if La tech got the final CUSA spot, the SBC would have no reason to expand, so we would still not have a conference mate closer than Monroe, LA to play against for many years to come. I think it has become rather obvious that nobody travels of major note from any of the SBC schools to Denton, the SBC provides nothing in the form of a decent contract for TV (exposure and $$$), nor does the SBC excite anyone outside of the hearty 10k fans who basically support this program. It just keeps us on the perpetual wheel of irrelevance that we have always been on for decades. This isn't even factoring in the very real possibility that the MWC and CUSA will probably have some or all of its members stay as FBS programs if a new line ever gets drawn again on who gets to stay at the top level of college football and who get re-classified.

You know, in football, you haven't even been able to talk about our school being anything above 8th until this year in the SBC. As many have posted, this was a nice message to CUSA that we are included with SMU and TCU (for now) as FBS members. Those two schools have both been invited, joined, found success, and then bolted CUSA--how nice is it to actually tell that CUSA office in town that we want to be like them, which is why we will continue to improve in football. And, oh by the way, our basketball program is better than anything those two ever produced for your conference, which is HIGHLY DEPENDENT on men's hoops (see Memphis, UTEP, and Tulsa as examples). This might very well be the first public salvo that has been fired from UNT to CUSA about deserving membership in their conference. And make no mistake about it, we do deserve it, and CUSA will be making a mistake by not inviting us over to fill the void in the DFW market.

So, I think I'm right about this, but I believe the 2012 home schedule will be Texas Southern, South Alabama, Troy, Arkansas State, and Louisiana-Lafayette. My question is this: Will we draw 20k for any of those games? I guess if we beat one of the brand names in the OOC, it would be probable, but assuming we don't beat LSU, KSU, or UH, I just don't see the season average for attendance being over 17k, even if we do win in the SBC. Great timing for a program that should be trying desperately to get a step-up during confernece realignment so as not to be left behind.

If this happens, I will probably just give up on ever seeing us play above glorified FCS-level ball. For the life of me, how either of those conferences can look at the DFW market and say that they dont need a presence there anymore, but we really need to add the Ruston, LA market or the all-important Logan, Utah market, is just mind-boggling. That is just poor business on every level. I know that we have sucked big time since 2005, but how hard would it be for those two conferences to look at the huge state school in a gigantic market with a brand new stadium and not say that they could bring a lot more to the conference if they got to actually play in a league with teams that people have actually heard of and care about to some degree? CUSA or MWC play would be a huge leap upward from the SBC for our fanbase. Even if it got us from averaging 15k per game to 20k, that is a huge leap. If we cannot get above the SBC for our program, then we really need to ask why we can't and what our future needs to look like going forward. More and more, I fear the exclusion of our program from FBS is much closer than anyone believes. Because if this merger get approved and somehow gets BCS-AQ status just to keep litigation away, I can easily see the NCAA closing the door at the 90 or so teams that would be in the power 7 conferences, plus Notre Dame and BYU. If that happens, I wouldn't want to be the guy answering the questions on why North Texas spent 78 million on a stadium for a program that is in FCS.

Such a HIP-HOP response...comprende?

It would be fine with me, too, especially compared to the teams you listed. But I know those $$$ games ahve to be played, so we need to replace those three opponents with teams that we actually compete with every once in a while. Its the other Texas schools that I am talking about. I know that many people have some grand idea of playing in a conference with UH, SMU, TCU, and Rice someday, but they all can't make it more clear how little they want to do with us. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Hell, I wouldv'e expected UTEP to stand up and politic for us to join CUSA, just to have a DFW game, but even they aren't saying a word on our behalf, at least not publically.

Just when I thought this thread couldn't get more depressing...if its true that we are not playing a game at Houston because we have been replaced by Texas State, then there is no more clear statement on how the more established Texas schools look at us than this scenario. We have played Houston exactly twice since we moved back up to FBS in 1995, both in Denton. We have never been given a return game in Houston. It is not hard to recognize that UH absolutely wants nothing to do with playing us if we have a shot at being good. If we win, its a shocker, but if they win, its no big deal. Now that they (UH) are about to take a step back with their program, their AD replaces us with Texas freaking State. This is exactly what Tech did when Leach got there and they stopped playing us after his first two years and started playing SMU every year, just perfectly timed to when we went to NO Bowls and SMU was doing good to win 3 games. Speaking of SMU, this is exactly what I expect them to do, too, if we get our act together again on the football field. Oh we'll play them a couple of times or more, but I doubt that series of 8 games ever gets fully played out if we are better than them. They'll buy us out early and then schedule UTSA. The more this crap occurs to us, the more it makes me hate college football. And, yes, I totally agree that most of this is due to our own mismanagement of athletics are just accepting the status quo for decades. But it doesn't make it right that we consistently get the shaft with these other Texas schools. I will say this, though. There is another Texas school that is going to feel a huge backlash in future scheduling from the other Texas schools and that is A&M. The other Big XII schools are never going to play them again, and I doubt UH or SMU are going to jump up and down about scheduling them, either in OOC games. Basically, that leaves Texas State, UTSA, UTEP, and Rice for them to play along with us. Maybe that's who we should talk to about scheduling some OOC games with again, maybe those Aggies will appreciate someone from the state actually wanting to play them in a lot of sports. It has to better to try something like this than to just constantly get reminded that all of the other schools in the old SWC are adamantly opposed to playing you in a series or being affiliated with you in a conference. I mean, seriously, what else can we do? Just ignore them back and never schedule them in anything either? Maybe its just a deal where La Tech, Tulsa, NMSU, UTEP, UTSA, and Texas State are the regional teams that we will look forward to playing in OOC games in the future.

worst thread ever?

I've posted it here before, but in a conversation that I had a while back with a good friend who is in DFW sports media, when UNT comes up, the belief amongst the media here is that the only way we will ever gain any traction with the fans and the media is that we have to win the SBC AND beat a ranked AQ team. Basically, copy what TCU did from 1998 through today. If that doesn't do the trick and we see an increase in fandom, then it just isn't meant to be here at UNT.

See, to me, the 2001-2004 years don't help either. We won 26 SBC games in a row, went to 4 straight NO Bowls, and saw our attendance jump all the way up to...15k-18k, which is basically where it has remained no matter how good or bad we have been. I think we would be a good fit for CUSA, but it seems that we have no one in the conference that feels the same way I do. That's what apathy amongst everything attached to your university will do to you, unfortunately.

Well, the Pac-10 schools back then could have looked at any of those Big West schools and said that they didn't get anything from playing them. Today, I guarantee if they still played football and with 35 bowl games that are available if you just 6-6, those CA schools would be the Pac-12's opponent de jour in OOC scheduling. Not to mention, that with CA's fiscal issues, those schools would probvably get more in-state games against UCLA, USC, Stanford, Cal, San Diego State, and Fresno State just to help with funding.

I thought this thread was going to be about Ron Mendoza

I am sensing a sarcastic bit here...Fouts opened in 1952. Bowden's FSU team played here in the 70s sometime.

Actually, Marshall in a CUSA game for them. And I don't like playing FCS teams, whover Southern Louisiana is (most likely SE LA).

This topic is just flat out depressing--because there is just not much that ever gets done to help the problem. If we have to play a bodybag game because its the easiest way to pay for women's softball and the track team, then schedule anyone outside of the SEC or the Big XII big wigs. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have teams that we can at least compete with. For example, playing at Iowa in a few years is perfect. Scheduling games at Florida, Georgia, LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and even Texas is beyond stupid. Here's the other thing that drives me crazy about those games. If you just have to play them, then do it later in the year. Troy has almost beaten Georgia and LSU when they played them in late season OOC games. We almost beat Kansas State last year in our last game. It just gives a team like ours time to get better, which can make a bodybag game hopefully a bit more competitive, plus the other heavyweight could be dealing with injuries or turmoil that helps our chances late in the season. We should always play two FBS regional teams every year in OOC, with one game at home and one away. For example, at UH and at home against Texas State (not Texas Southern). Then, next year, play at Texas State and at home against Tulsa or someone of that ilk. A huge get would be a home and home series with Baylor, TCU, Tech, or Houston again, but no one should hold their breath. Lousiana Tech, NMSU, UTEP, and Tulane are reasonable OOC games to schedule, too. Lastly, I would have the service academies on the schedule or a game against a MWC opponent every year, too. Its good that we have components of this schedule planned ahead, but there are still major potholes in the future schedules that really hurt the program. Love games that are schdeuled against SMU and Army in the future, but we have to do better with the other games in OOC. As a poster mentioned earlier, opening (again) at the home of the national champion and losing 50-0 doesn't help you much at all, but it really hurts when your next game is at home against Texas Southern and that is your only home game in OOC. Even if you win that next game 50-0, its against a team no one cares about and all anyone talks about is the fact that the team everyone has heard of (LSU) just beat you by 7 TDs. Its just insanity that plays itself out over and over and over...

I disagree--Chico showed us all that he could lead the program in his short interim stint last year. I know the offense hasn't been great this year, but we lost a lot from the year before, had a new head coach, and his QB was pretty much learning on the fly with an Oline that was very thin. The entire team got much better as the year went on and the offense showed improvement. I think that Derek Thompson will have a great year next year and I think that we will find a solid replacement for Dunbar. Assuming Chico stays, I think this upcoming season will be even better for the offense. I like both of our coordinators, though. I just hope they both stay here this year.

A while back, I was talking to a local HS basketball coach. He really likes Johnny Jones and has gotten to know him pretty well through recruiting and camps. We were discussing the job Jones has done here at UNT, and that eventually he will move on. He said that JJ really was interested in the Auburn job and it was for one reason--$$$$. Getting double the pay for a decent amount of time for any coach, no matter their age, will always be the major deciding factor. If Coach Mac got offered a higher paying job at another school up the food chain, even at his age, he would take it. Its why the AD alwasy ahs to be ready with that list of names to hire when needed. Its my belief, by the way, that if/when Coach Mac leaves, that Canales would then be the guy. RV loves him.

Ask a big-money Tech alum that gives to the program how they feel about his dismissal... Hint--it will be different from the young tech grad.

At Wazzou, Leach will do exactly what he did at Tech. He'll get a QB to pass it about 50+ a game, he will fix the OOC to not include one AQ team (look at Tech's OOC after he was there about 3 years), and his teams will get to 7-8 wins pretty regularly. He will get a season or two where 9+ wins will come into play, too. And along the way, the WSU alums and administration will get tired of the fact that all he wants to do is coach, not glad-hand big-money donors. His ego would never have let him accept being a head coach at a school like North Texas. He might have gone the non-AQ route, but it wasn't going to be in the state where his last school plays and that school was in the worst league in FBS. It would've been a higher school in the MWC that could pay a lot more and could give him the chance to get national attention.

I feel sorry for the classy Nebraska fans. They are widely regarded as one of, if not the, best fanbases in college football, yet their last two coaches have been Bill Callahan and Bo Pelini. Pelini may be the biggest embarrassment, behavior-wise, that I have ever seen week-in, week-out in college football. There is no way I would let my son play for that guy as a head coach.

I don't even know where to start... A few things I am about 100% certain about: *If we "compete" with UT in 2014 by finishing within 4 TDs of them, I will be beyond thrilled. *I have never heard anyone call a football game between UNT and SMU a war, so that is cool that you are the first to call it that. *We did beat SMU a few years ago, so I guess that means we are no longer a "nothing school", although I do believe we still play in a "nobody league".

I can assure you that we had no chance at him, nor we he have been considered for hiring when he had a lawsuit against another state institution. I have said for years that Leach's next job (even when he was at Tech) would be at a non-AQ in the MWC or at a low-level AQ school out west. Washington State is the perfect place for him. He can do whatever he pleases in an area with little media coverage (see Lubbock, TX) and in a league where offense rules the day. He'll do fine there, alot like he did in Lubbock, but in the end, I doubt that they will ever beat Oregon or USC for the Pac-12 championship.

Just to be clear, I would, too. But since those first four schools have basically said that they dont want anything to do with ever being associated with UNT in an athletic conference over the last 40 years, I think our wishes are probably not going to be granted any time soon...

This why I don't mind the idea of having the SBC pull in UTSA and Texas State into the conference now. Until we can improve enough to move up the food chain (or be allowed to move up), then I think the ability to play in-state schools that look like us has alot of merit for all involved. I am not giving up on the dream of going to CUSA or the MWC either, but assuming that it doesn't happen, I like the idea of having other Texas teams in the Belt instead of the way it is currently setup, especially as we get ready to shatter the earth with the addition of South Alabama!!

This was posted on the Recruiting Board, but I think it holds major relevance for us today in terms of our alignment in certain conferences and with our views of other Texas schools. The hill/mountain is steep, especially when the other schools around here literally want nothing to do with having us in a conference with them. With no rival to build with, our program hasn't been able to sustain any momentum or interest during times when our program is either down (most of the time) or when we are winning but playing schools no one has heard of or cares about. The intriguing part here, to me, is not how the private schools look down at us, as well as probably the other Texas state schools from the old SWC, but its how we look at UTSA and Texas State. To me, this is the golden chance to build something with two other schools that look like us, are growing, and are at similar stages as FBS programs RIGHT NOW. I capitalize that part because I want everyone to recognize that I know we are much further along in terms of history than either of those schools, but we are also miles ahead of them in apathy, too. We could really start something if the three schools started playing each other and getting something built in terms of rivalry and dependability. Who knows, it might even attract a UTEP to consider being a part of that mix one day, since Rice would be its only other conference mate in Texas if SMU and UH leave CUSA. Also, in bigger possibilities, it could eventually leave those smaller private schools out of future conferences. Its my belief that none of those schools--except TCU and Baylor--bring much to a conference. And its possible that TCU could easily fall back to its old status as being an also-ran now that they will be playing those bigger schools every week in the Big XII-II. All in all, those private schools are super small, have small followings unless they win and get their cities' interest for that particular season, and their cities are full of alums from the bigger state schools, which causes their media and fan attention to never really get to the level that they "sell" to these conferences and networks. There is just no way that SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, or Rice deliver anything remotely close to what their dollars can buy. the Big East will find this out, just as CUSA has found it out. But, to me, an SBC with us, Texas State, and UTSA, as well as a La Tech and a NMSU, would work out fine with me, at least for the next few years. It sure beats the heck out of continuing this nonsense of the current SBC with no one close than a 6 hour drive and full of teams no one cares about in the least.