untjim1995

Just remember that the most influential members of the Justice Dept., Congress, state legislatures, etc..are usually dominated by graduates of the BCS schools. This doesn't even count the backing that thsoe politicians get from boosters of those schools. Getting rid of the current BCS monopoly held by the Big Six Leagues and getting a system that looks like college basketball's playoff (in other words, ALL INCLUSIVE) seems about as likely as me hitting the lottery today.

Historically speaking, there are a lot of them at the NT Daily's offices. If you disagree, I think there is ample evidence over the DECADES to back my point up rather easily.

This scenario would be a dream come true to me. We would basically get in the best non-AQ league and play teams that people know of. When we were in the old Big West, Nevada and Boise State were newer to 1-A within a couple of years. Now that they both have had major success, I would love to be associated with them, not to mention being linked with all of the others in the MWC, who have had histories of success in either football or basketball over the last few decades. As fun as a trip is to go to Miami or Lafayette, I think a trip to Colorado, Las Vegas, or Albuquerque would grow to be appreciated greatly by the MG faithful. I just don't know if that league will ever take us, though. Our school will almost have to get picked on "faith" by the MWC, being able to look past the bad results from football for the most part of the last 30 years, as well as non-descript results from men's hoops (no NCAA wins, a few appearnaces, etc..)and see us for what we are, a school that is finally trying to reach out to the potential that we have. If we are stuck in the SBC, its not the end of the world, but the ceiling for the program will remain a lot lower, just because of the history of the league and its members being so small. I would feel a little bit better about the SBC if a team could ever get ranked in football, but those $$$ OOC games against big-time AQ teams will always make that a tough proposition. Maybe we couldn't compete in the MWC right now, but a berth in that league would do even more for our credibility, both among fans and media, not to mention recruits.

If the NT Daily ran a story on a "tradition" at North Texas, it would either a.)say the tradition is stupid, b.)get the tradition wrong, c.)talk about how much better the similar tradition is at Texas or another school, or d.)bitch about the cost of the football program that said tradition belongs to.

It seems to me that the Longhorns and the Aggies should work on being equitable then with the rest of the Big XII-II to have an equal payout. Since Iowa State and Baylor are have-nots, they can be "carried by Texas, OU, and A&M" to survive by sharing equally in conference TV revenue, right? I mean that's only fair. In reality, with anything, $$$ drives the bus. If the SBC or UNT feels that someone isn't carrying the load and should be replaced, more power to them. When Texas was going to leave to go to the Pac-10, it didn't seem like the Kansas schools, Iowa State, Mizzou or Baylor were really that high on UTs agenda for "bolting without the drain". Those aforementioned schools are in a conference with Texas, OU, and A&M for one reason and one reason only--they all agreed to less money and power. The funniest part in all of this is how a school like Tech so unabashedly basked in the glow of being a tick on Texas' body. I guess it pays well to have friends in high places. Its something UNT, ULM, or anyone else in the SBC wouldn't know a thing about.

I agree with you on La Tech. I think that their program will really fall apart if they don't get that CUSA invite that they need even more than us. I really do believe that they are blackballed from ever getting in the SBC. This watered down WAC will just kill their program slowly.

FIFY

As good a laugh as she had when she went to the bank and saw the deposit from UNT, who bankrolled her as a losing coach for almost 20 years? I wonder...

I look at FIU and Cristobal and it took him 4 years to get to the top of the SBC. Troy and MUTS won't drop easily, and I expect that FIU has replaced FAU as part of the Big Three in the SBC for this season ahead, at least. In my opinion, we just need to get out of the bottom third of SBC teams this season. If we do that, that is marked progress from the last 6 years. I just don't think we have the line size, particulary on the defensive side, to compete for a SBC crown this season. And it sounds as if Coach Mac probably thinks that size/talent on the lines will be the biggest issue this upcoming season, as well.

I tend to agree with your first opinion. I do believe it will be in his third year that we will be ready to make a run at the SBC title. His system will take time to get going, just like it did at Iowa State, but it won't take five years here, since we are not playing in one of the best conferences on the planet. As for a ranking, though, I wouldn't put any expectation there. No SBC school has ever been ranked and the conference is going into its eleventh year of FBS football. We had some solid teams in our championship run that never got ranked, just like Troy has as well. For an SBC team to get ranked, it can only lose 3 games or less, while beating a "name" school, during that season. Since we all have to play money games each year, the opportunity is there for a big win, but the reality is that you usually have 2-4 losses in OOC play because of the strength of the teams that we play. When you factor in the balance that the SBC has generally shown over the last 6 seasons, an undefeated league team seems difficult, too, which really hurts a team trying to be ranked at some point during the season.

I tend to agree here. Texas State has good potential to get off the ground fairly quickly in a watered-down WAC. They would probably love a regional conference with an in-state rival and travel partner, so that might make sense. I would still go after NMSU, also, to get the SBC to 12 teams, with the understanding that La Tech only gets in if ULM drops down. The funny part here is that LA Tech has looked so far down their noses at ULM and the SBC that it will be sweet to see them fall off the FBS map because the SBC continues to grow and show stability and the mere fact that ULMs presence in the SBC would blackball La Tech from ever joining. Its almost like the reverse of our situation with SMU and CUSA. As an aside, I still cannot believe that SMU would back La Tech for CUSA inclusion--what a joke...

I think these are a good idea to have for the AD, but I hope that Coach Mac knows what he is getting into if one or more of these events have less than 50 people show up. I am sure he does, but I guess its the history of these events fromt he past that worry me. Hopefully, we will get a full house at each spot and make this concern a moot point!!

Im hoping that the new stadium will foster more pagentry from everyone involved (Students, alumni, fans, band, team, etc.) Tailgating changed the game at UNT for the fans outside the stadium--now lets work on getting better EVERYWHERE in the stadium, from the field to the stands!!

A few years back, when Greggo got fired form The TIcket, it was reported that his annual income was around $400k. Those guys make serious dough, which they should since they have the highest rated show for the best target demographic.

If there are 4 stadiums in FBS that are worse than Fouts, that school should either plan aggresively to build a new stadium or just give it up. That said, I doubt there are 5 stadiums worse than Fouts for the fan to enjoy football. From the fact that it felt like you were sitting in Dallas watching a game because of that stupid track, to the fact that it literally looked like it could fall apart if a strong storm ever hit it, and not mention that the idea of a loud crowd was almost nil because of the openness of Fouts, I can't even fathom a stadium that was worse than Fouts. I can't even begin to imagine the joy that we are going to feel when we watch the Mean Green play in a REAL COLLEGE STADIUM!!

No kidding. What a joke...If he would have at least tried to build bridges with the alumni and fanbase, there is not a doubt in my mind that he would be our coach still to this day. Of course, he would lose his favorite excuse about this being the toughest job in America by moving into the new stadium. Its this mentality that cost him his job. The kids on the team might have liked it, but those of us on the "Them" side of the "Us vs Them" argument he used, never could buy into him fully. Hell, I remember seeing him after the NO Bowl win at a bar on Bourbon Street and shaking his hand and telling him congratulations, only to get back the blankest stare and no reply. Even the other fans around me thought this was extremely strange for a victorious coach of a bowl game. I never gave it much concern until he let Ramon Flanigan get away with accosting a fan in the stands at a home game, then after the MFer comment came to the public eye, I realized that he was just too much of a black eye for the university. Luckily, the administration saw it that way, too, even though they missed very badly on their next hire. We can all be happy that he brought us success for a few years and some great memories at the NO Bowl, but he brought what followed over the course of the next few years all upon himself.

I'm going to throw my $.02 into this mess. Back when we hired JJ, we used to play the privates--because we were perceived to be an easy win to them. Once we got our hoops program going, though, those two teams ran away from us and, now UTA, fairly quickly. Look, I don't blame them at all. The DFW Media loves old SWC schools, so they have a huge advantage over us and UTA on that front. They have done this in football, as well. When did we play TCU alot in football? Back when Fran became their coach and they were needing to get wins. Once they started winning and moving their program up to a level that no one could have dreamed they would be at today, North Texas appears nowhere on their schedule, although Texas State or Northwestern State get to play them. SMU scheduled a two-game series with us in football in 2006, we beat them once and it cost them a bowl game. Yes, we got rescheduled for a possible long series with them--starting in 2014, conveniently long after their $2 million coach gets time to reconstruct their program. If June Jones leaves or SMU really dives back down again and we somehow become good again in football, who on here doesn't believe that this long series will get cancelled? Its just the nature of dealing with the two very rich, very well-covered private schools who are lucky to be the only schools in two big cities. Look at what our men's hoops team ahs done without playing either of those teams. We have become a very good team and our recruiting has really picked up. Fortunately, we play in a league that we can win, even if it is perceived to be a down league. SMU, and especially TCU, have no chance at winning their league, IMO. CUSA, even though the league has dropped big-time since Calipari left Memphis, still has schools that support their teams and get better recurits than SMU ever will. Memphis, UH, and UTEP alone are ahead of them and will always have easier entrance requirements than SMU. TCU is about to enter the belly of the Beast. They will get an infusion of cash from being in that league, and I do think their recruiting will pick up, but that league is waaaaayyyy to tough for them for the foreseeable future. Finishing 2-18 or 4-16 in conference play each year will not help them at all. Now, lets assume for a moment that the SBC doesn't stay at the level of being at its worst in probably 20 years. We have WKU in the east that has a program that is traditionally very solid, while other schools like USA or UALR have been hit or miss for many years. Essentially, though, its been us and WKU for the last 5 years and who doesn't see that continuing, as long as we have a solid coach? We can make the NCAAs from our league each year--those two private schools to the south really can't say that, unless they really catch lightning in a bottle. Our way, athletically, is not going to involve SMU or TCU--its going to actually revolve around doing something crazy to most UNT fans--ignoring them. All we ever hear from RV or our coaches is that we should play them every year, but the funny thing is that you never hear the ADs at TCU or SMU say this about UNT. I will say this until the day I die, but we will know that we have reached the promised land, athletically speaking, when we hear those sentiments coming from DFW, and not from Denton. Keep playing UTA every year, leave the other two to play themselves and hope that their 80-year SWC relationship with the old guard Texas media will continue to hold them up high. For most of us, we realize that, unless TCU can keep it up in football, the chances of that happening in an evolving media world, are slim to none. Their fanbase is just not big enough to garner that kind of attention without winning big.

After I watched Penn State defeat Wisconsin 36-33 in the Big Ten Tournament, albeit in an era with BOTH a 3-point arc and a 35-second shot clock, my life ended. This post is actually coming from Heaven!!

In the bold quote above, it is great to hear this, but in reality, we are going to have to compete against some FCS schools still to get talent here until he builds this thing up from the ashes. We are at the bottom of the totem pole in Texas right now as a current FBS team. We are going to get some kids whose other choices may be SFA or SHSU. In time, that will change, and we will just compete with only the Texas FBS teams for kids, but for right now, we have to go after guys who are willing to come here and play for a school that has won exactly 13 games in the last 6 years.

What DMac truthfully says about the DLine is why a quick-turn-around is probably not going to happen in 2011. This makes the lack of defensive line recruitment under Dodge even more glaring--its hurts the entire defense, and, ultimately, your entire team. McCarney has a knack for developing linemen, so I think it will happen down the road, but probably not this year. All I want to see out of 2011 is a new mindset being laid out for these guys and for the seeds to be planted for future success. I truly believe McCarney will win here down the road and that he will win big. He is without a doubt, the best hire this school has made since Fry, but its gonna take time to rebuild from the devastation of the last two regimes.

As far as the worst thing that ever happened to MBB at NT, I would nominate Vic Trilli.

I wouldn't bet the farm on this. I think the SBC will be our home for a while, unfortunately.

Then why is the AD posting on here complaining about this? Seriously, I don't get why he posted this. If someone complained, ignore it. The team had a good season and missed the Big Dance because UALR's best player nailed a clutch bomb with a second to go. Maybe he has been swamped with calls and emails at the office, but I haven't read anything out of line on here, except from a questionsable few that I wouldn't take their advice on ANYTHING. Very odd to me, even though I think RV is awesome most of the time.

Yep. Following Pat Knight should be just a tad easier than taking over after his dad left.

Sounds like Billy Gillispie is the leader in the clubhouse for that job. He drunk himself out of a job at Kentucky, along with the fact that his harsh coaching didn't play with Kentucky's prima donnas. However, when he coached at UTEP and A&M, his records were outstanding. Tech would definitely be a great landing place for him if they take him. He certainly will be following the right Knight out there!!