untjim1995

Not only would I not invite La Tech to become a member, I wouldn't be surprised to see them have to come beg us for full membership down the road. That stunt they pulled a couple of years ago with the I-Bowl was the last straw. If you will remember, the I-Bowl usually hosts a Big XII and SEC team to play each other, but two years ago, neither conference had enough particpants to fill their obligation. So the I-Bowl invited La tech (makes sense since they are in their backyard) and still had to invite one more team. Now, it was my understanding that the SBC was the backup for the I-Bowl if someone couldn't fulfill their spot, which happened. ULL was available, but La Tech had a fit about having to play a team from the lowly Sun Belt, so they used their pull to get the I-Bowl to invite that huge fanbase of Northern Illinois instead. That alone would make me as a conference leader or as the AD of one of its schools to never schedule La Tech in anything again until they ask for the invite AND pay full membership.

Not to be Debbie Downer here, but that OLine we depend on is now being coached by a guy who has all of about a month on the job. Maybe that doesn't matter, but I have to believe that it will have some impact, especially early in the year. Maybe Dunbar is so good that he doesn't need the OLine to be great, but I am actually expecting that with Rodge out as QB (rightfully so), his running stats could very well drop. This doesn't even talk about the issue of Tune not being exactly the most mobile QB. I think that this is the biggest key to Chico either being a first-year success as the OC or looking for a job at the end of the year with the rest of the staff. My biggest concerns are 1.) Can the defense actually put any pressure on the QB? 2.) Can we even kick an Extra Point with any kind of success, much less a 30+yard FG?, 3.) How does the OLine perform? Those questions make me feel more confident in believing that 4-5 wins is probably more accurate this year. The amazing part of that equation is that 5 wins would equal the last three years COMBINED!!

Baylor has absolutley zero pull on this. If Texas and Oklahoma want BYU, then it is done. Texas know that they are stuck with Baylor for the time being, but they have scheduled three games with BYU over the course of the next 5 years. I think that Texas knew that BYU was most likely going to do this and they scheduled them as a reward for going indy. BYU's decision knocks the MWC out of AQ possibliity, so the Baylor's of the world can continue to suck off the teat of the BCS teams that actually do something. And Texas wants to strongly consider going indy in football only, too. If BYU is successful, this is something they will look at doing, as well. If not, then BYU joins the Big 12-2 in a few years. My money is on BYU eventually coming over here to play in a conference with the remaining Big XII teams.

In all honesty, TD is just the latest in a LONG LINE of people who have done wonders for our football program...

You have seen us play big BCS teams in front of 70K+ in the last 15 years, right? If we lose 48-17, I think we are in for a better year than anything over the previous five seasons. I dare say it would be a pretty good indication that TDodge will be our coach next year and beyond.

56-6 Clemson. We score a TD, but miss the XP.

I think that points out the biggest issue--the SBC and its directional names and airport sounding universities in Florida provide much ammo to doucher media members who will never look at the SBC as a conference that really has made good strides over the last decade. I suppose that there really is nothing that will come from my complaints, though. The SBC is our home and probably will be for a long time to come.

I know that this list is not really all that important, but a lot of ribbing comes from this dumb list. Not only would it be nice not to ever be on it (or to be honorably mentioned), it would be even better to one day be in a league that isn't comprised of 60% of the list or that 2/3 of said league's members are not in the Bottom 10.

Replace Utah State with UNLV and remove La Tech and add Tulsa and you have a nice conference right there. UNT could then get into a league that would combine the best remaining schools in CUSA with the best schools in the SBC. That would be a nice conference upgrade.

I completely agree with you--I think that FAU and MTSU are in good shape here, too. Not saying UNT won't get an offer, but football drives the bus here and both of them have been substantially better than us over the last 5 years.

IF BYU pulls this off and does go independent, I think they will do well. They are one of about 5 teams that could pull this off, but I think it would actually help them if they do this. Follow Notre Dame's plan, keep playing name teams and rivals in football, and then join a conference for your other sports where you can succeed. Assuming that the rumors are true and BYU does leave, and Fresno State and Nevada join, the MWC will still be in good shape, especially if they add UTEP and UH to the mix, which I think is probable. That would leave CUSA needing two teams. I think that MTSU looks very good to them and I would suspect that we would be next in line--unless SMU again backs La Tech and the other privates help to get them over, i.e. vote them in and help pay their WAC buyout. If not, we should be in good shape here. IF we do get black-balled again, though, we are going to be in the SBC for a long time.

I grew up there, too, and still go back pretty much on a monthly basis for family and friends. The billboards and the newspaper make it pretty clear to most people that live anywhere near FW that TCU is their hometown team. Sure, they battle Texas, A&M, OU, and Tech for coverage, but those schools have huge enrollments, fanbases, and $$$ to follow, which is seen through their coverage by the DFW media. Trust me, though, SMU and UNT would kill to have the support and attention that TCU has been getting over the last dozen years.

To me, the big-time part about TCUs funding is that they have no problem doing it. FW wants TCU to be a big-time deal in college athletics, which is sadly very different from Denton's views. The fundraising part may be easier because TCU is private, thus their alumni tend to have deep pocket$, but their FW T-shirt fans are very supportive, too. Back in the early 90s, TCU met with their Circle of 100, which was made up of alumni and leaders within FW and Tarrant County. They became proactive with TCU becoming synonymous with being FW's "hometown team". They even got decent fan turnout when they won one game in 1997. Of course, they hired Franchione away from New Mexico for around $400k per year (back in 1998), which is quite another topic, too, to address, but that really got the ball rolling to where they are now. I just cant see Denton ever backing UNT Athletics like this. UNT Music or Performing Arts might be a different story, but the support that the NCAA Tourney hoops team gets tells us a lot about this whole story.

What I would like for UNT to model itself after is looking a combination of schools. UH is a huge public school that serves the biggest city in Texas, while we serve the biggest metro are in the state in DFW. It seems that UH and Rice don't hold as much animosity for each other, unlike us, as we deal with the DFW private schools, especially SMU. I think we could learn something there. I think we could learn even more from Texas Tech. Yes, they have ALWAYS been taken care of by UT, A&M, and the legislature, and maybe that is purely due to their location, but they have grown light years farther than I ever expected to see their programs get up to. Texas Tech has beaten Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Nebraska many times over the last decade. Think about that for a second. They are playing top programs AND having success. Maybe that will go away now that the Pirate is off the sidelines, but I am soooo jealous of the level that Tech has raised its football team to over the last decade. And, outside of the state of Texas, I would really keep following the Southern Miss plan, which I believe RV has done very well over the last decade. The main difference, of course, is that they have had good football coaches and we have not during his tenure. But, I think that they have carved out a great reputation even though they are third fiddle in their small state, which has got to be similar to our standing in Texas right now.

I believe that this game was in 1999, so just past the ten-year mark now, but the most frustrating loss to me was when LaDarrin McLane was running to score the game-winning TD in Lubbock that would have beaten Tech out there for the 4th time in a row. Somehow, a receiver and former QB gets caught from behind at around the 15 yard line and has the ball punched out from his hands and then Tech recovers and runs it back to midfield to basically clinch the game 13-7. Nothing else comes close to me, since we had a nice rivalry going with Tech back then. That series should have kept going, but then again, we would have gotten beat by 80 if we had played some of those Tech teams that Leach coached over the last 5 years or so.

I read this line of thinking a lot on here, but I think that, in reality, moving to another conference with current Texas schools will be incredibly difficult. I would love to be in a better conference, too, but CUSA seems to be covered as we stand currently with plenty of Texas schools, none of whom prefer to be in a conference with us (kind of like the board mostly feels about Texas State and UTSA), and the private schools within that conference vote together. So that leaves the MWC, which is certainly a step up from CUSA, but TCU has already made it clear that Baylor isn't welcome to join their conference when the Big XII almost blew up. I don't see them giving UNT any favors on this end, either, as they seem to love having the area all to themselves to recruit players to play in the MWC. So, that leaves the WAC, which is about to be just as weak as the SBC when Fresno State and Nevada or Hawaii leave. With all of this in place, I just don't see how we are "settling" for the SBC right now. It just seems that there is nowhere else for us to go. How would you convince CUSA/MWC to take us, especially if the other Metroplex teams in those conferences are against having you join?

Dickey didn't really win--he had 3 winning seasons out of 9. Dodge hasn't come even close to finishing wihtin miles of .500. They both have been severe disappointments in my mind. It doesn't always have to be a comparison between the two. Neither have really fit at UNT, for different reasons. Really, other than Fry and Corky Nelson, no coach has had much success at UNT of significant note over the last 35 years or so. But, in their defense, the administration, alumni, and students didn't really help on this until the last 8 years or so.

I know that we spending 78 Million on a new stadium, but that is needed just for games against the SBC and other teams we normally schedule OOC. If you can get a giant BCS team to play you anywhere away from their place, you do it. Rice plays Texas every other year at Reliant in Houston. TCU is playing Oregon State at JerryWorld (why, I don't know). If you get OU, UT, A&M, or LSU at JerryWorld, I think it should be done in a heartbeat. That said, I will be shocked if OU does this, since they already play here annually and have at least two games in Texas every year. Now, if you said Nebraska, which won't have Bevo 10 ties in a couple of years, coming down here for a 2 for 1, then you would have me believing quickly.

To me, the best uniforms out there are: 1.)Notre Dame 2.)Colorado 3.)Alabama 4.)Georgia Tech

If we win 6 games and that includes a season-ending win over K-State in the last game at Fouts, I will bet you anything that Dodge keeps his job. Do I think that is right--no, I don't. I thought he should have been fired after last season, but the AD told a local reporter that the "funds" just weren't there for us to buy him out for two years and that we have to raise funds to pay toward the stadium. As ArkStfan plainly said, going into the last year of a contract extension is most definitely brought up during recruiting--as it should. That would just be a killer for our program in recruiting to go into the the new stadium with a coach that could be let go of at the end of the season. The hope here is that this upcoming year just makes it obvious on which direction we need to go. I really hope it is that Dodge does get an extension because we will have had a break-through season. Its just that when you are the #117 team out of 120, most people realize that the chances of even 6 wins aren't probably too high, so in the end, you will probably see him get the ax. I hope not, but to go from 5 wins in three seasons to 6+ in the next season doesn't seem too realistic.

This is the year that Dodge's fate will get determined. Either he gets fired or he gets an extension. There is no way he will go into the last year of his current contract wihtout any assurances of an extra year or two. That would kill recruiting. Imagine going into a home this fall and spring telling recruits that you can come to UTEP, SMU or Ark State where we have stability at the top or you can go to UNT where their coach is in his last year. Who knows if he will get to stay and for how long, plus who is going to come in and coach and what kind of offense/defense will they introduce? Now, the bigger question is what will the requirement be to get that extension? My guess is that 6 wins will get him an extra year, even though RV said it would at least be 7 to keep his job. I think 7 years will get him 2 extra years, 8 wins would get him 3 years, etc..

Genius!!

Perhaps your best reply ever--Major Props for you!!

IMO, there are three scenarios that could play out over the course of the next 3 years that will affect UNT: 1.) Best Case: The Big XII takes BYU and Memphis, while the Big East adds ECU and UCF. The two best non-AQ leagues have openings and the MWC then invites Fresno State, Nevada, UTEP, and UH to become a 12 team league. CUSA now has five openings and it has left behind most of its eastern schools. Marshall decides that the MAC makes sense again, so they now have six openings. To fill that void, CUSA invites La Tech, UNT, MTSU, WKU, FAU, and Arkansas State to fill the void. UNT then has a division that is made up of us, SMU, Rice, La Tech, Tulsa, and Tulane and the other division is USM, UAB, MUTS, WKU, FAU, and ASU. 2.)Worst Case: The above scenario occurs, but we don't get the bid for the CUSA spot, due to politics and on-field performance, or some team don't leave CUSA (i.e.,Marshall). However, the other SBC schools mentioned above do leave. Then, we have an SBC that looks like this: FIU, Troy, ULL, ULM, us, South Alabama (who moves up in a few years), UTSA, Texas State, and possibly, NMSU. This is just about conference hell--our newer version of SLC I-AA purgatory. If this happens, then 28k seating for our next stadium is probably TOO BIG for decades to come. 3.)Realistic Case: Everything stays pretty much the way it has been for the last decade. We stay in the Belt with the teams we got because CUSA doesn't lose anyone, nor does any other league. ULM drops down because the price of poker gets too high and the SBC then adds La Tech eventually because they cannot afford the WAC and they cannot afford to be independent, as well as USA and the other schools looking to move up (TSU-SM and UTSA). We get 12 teams and set up East/West divisions. The division for UNT is then: us, UTSA, Texas State, ULL, La Tech, and Arkansas State. Not bad, but not what everyone dreams about for us, either.

This is for all of thosr posters out there that think that one university can't keep another one out (i.e. SMU vs. UNT) Membership has its privileges, but it works both ways. No matter what, TCU and Baylor won't be in the same conference anytime soon, unless this report is just pure speculation.