GrandGreen

Players currently on ship: Williams Sr, Wooden Sr, Jackson Sr, Bell Sr, Howerton Jr, Stewart Jr, Dennis Jr, Magrum So That totals 8 on scholarship plus Sturns Sr who played last year without a ship leaving 4 ships to give. McCoy has been signed filling one position. Therefore there are 3 ships to give. Lot of criticism on this thread toward a couple of players. Without Sturns on the team you wouldn't have to worry about turnovers against Memphis because the team would have never got out of the Belt tournament. Sturns is not a true point guard but he obviously was the best the team had behind Bell. He was exposed against Memphis, moves that worked most of all year didn't work against athletes just as quick or quicker than he is. Howerton IMO gave strong effort and was effective in clogging up the middle and making opponents' post players work. Big men are usually much slower to develop than other players, so hopefully Howerton will continue to progress and become a bigger positive factor for the team. The lack of recruits at this late date continues to disappoint. NT is now engaged in awarding three ships while most teams have completed their recruiting or just looking for that last fill-in player. NT should be OK next year but currently has only one underclassman on the squad. I hope that NT does not turn completely into a team of transfers with little continuity from year to year.

There have been two times in the last 40 years that NT was on their way to making a breakthrough in athletics. This was in the late 60's when NT IMO was in the top 3 in both football and basketball in Texas and in the mid 70's with Fry and Blakeley as coaches in the two main sports. Despite unparalleled success in those two periods compared to the NT norm, NT failed to capitalize on these achievements. Not only did NT not take advantage of winning programs, they actually reduced budgets for the two main sports and a rapid decline began. The reason I mentioned the above, is I think unlike in the periods above; NT now has the administration in place that sees the value in athletics and are sincerely trying to upgrade the athletic programs. This is the key to success and assuming continued strong athletic support from the Broad and Administration; everything else, though far from easy to achieve, should eventually fall into place: fundraising, attendance, better facilities and a general move up in the NCAA athletics food chain.

Yes that long term contract really accomplished all that with DD at the helm of the football program. You seem to have made the very questionable conclusion that a long term contract means that a successful coach is more likely to remain at the university. Have you not noticed that most successful coaches at every level move on despite contract terms. Again, no one has stated that JJ should have only a one year deal. As for the other platitudes that you have tossed out as support, most are opinions not facts. Who has recommended that NT plan only one year at a time? Being economically prudent IMO is far from demonstrating a loss of confidence, and is the direct opposite of being a short term solution.

I'm nuts. What exactly are the better options for the program of a coach with a 5 year contract over a 1 year? A long term contract might have a slight positive effect on recruiting and staff retention but that is greatly overshadowed by the risk of having to either buy out a contract or having to live with an under-performing head coach. By the way, I have not seen anyone state that JJ should not get an extension over 1 year.

The signing period ends May 16. Signing Dates Signing Dates for the 2007-2008 Academic Year Do not sign prior to 7:00 a.m. (local time) on the following dates or after the final signing date listed for each sport. Sport Initial Signing Date Final Signing Date Basketball (Early Period) November 8, 2006 November 15, 2006 Basketball (Regular Period) April 11, 2007 May 16, 2007 Football (Midyear JC Transfer) December 20, 2006 January 15, 2007 Football (Regular Period) February 7, 2007 April 1, 2007 Field Hockey, Soccer, Men's Water Polo* February 7, 2007 August 1, 2007 All Other Sports(Early Period) November 8, 2006 November 15, 2006 All Other Sports(Regular Period) April 11, 2007 August 1, 2007

Anybody else worried about this recruiting class? Most believed that NT might get a little bump in recruiting from the NCAA appearance and it may happen but the signs at this point aren't good. First, most of the highly recruited are now taken in the early signing period, NT did not sign anyone. The highly ballyhooed last year class has turned out to be far less than expected. Fleming is now gone, Muse never qualified, Jackson was hurt all year. Magrum played little and Dennis although generally thought to be good player is still a mystery to most. The only signing so far this year is a greatly needed backup point, but not exactly a highly sought recruit. Losing a recruit to maybe the most impoverished program in the nation, conference mate New Orleans is not exactly promising.

The DRC mentioned today that NT is negotiating an 5 year extension for JJ. I think that JJ had a great year and is deserving of a raise and an extension, but I see absolutely no benefit for NT in extending a long term contract to any coach. It looks like our AD would have learned from the DD debacle. As strongly evidenced by the current basketball coach carousel, contracts do not keep any coach from moving on but to cash deficit programs like NT it does present a great obstacle if the University wants to make a coaching change. I see no pluses in extending any coach's contract more than 2 or at most 3 years.

For the seemingly the thousandth time, the mean green name was not generated because of Joe Greene. The defense in the late 60's was known as the "Mean Green" referring to the school color. Joe Greene played on that defense. Joe did not get the nickname of "Mean Joe Greene" until he was in the pros. I think NT has taken a great approach using the unique "Mean Green" as a team name instead of the most overused and unimaginative moniker (Eagles) in the USA. The "Eagles" remain the University's mascot and provide another identifier and a length to the historical progression of the University.

Most colleges try to keep some semblance of a salary structure by not having coaches make more in base salary than their superiors. Therefore, there are all kind of items that are labeled incentives that are little more than salary add-ons. (radio and tv fees, conference membership, etc.) There are another class of true incentives such as for conference championships, post-season games, graduation rates, attendance goals, etc. that are more traditional bonus items.

Other recruits that have at least some interest in NT per various recruiting websites: Ray Holiday 6'6" 190 F A&M Consolidated Brandon Shaw 6'2" 165 PG Colleyville Heritage Quincy Sarpy 6'4" 205 Wing Collin County CC

OK, I will bring up ancient history and point out IMO the best player ever at NT was Joe Hamilton. Joe was listed at a generous 5' 10". On a secondary note I wish the three point shot would have been be available in Joe's era, he didn't take many shoots that would not have been 3 pointers.

NT getting only two first place finishes (one being a tie with two others) in what amounts to a 4 team meet is far from stellar. All NCAA teams have scholarship limits; track/cross country being 12.5 for men and 18 for women. Therefore there are a lot of partial ships which should give a great advantage to state schools versus privates like SMU. NT with the exception of Brandi Stanfield seldom recruits first line performers, I guess going for quantity over quality. I don't know if this is due to a strategy of getting more athletes with partial ships or completely a function of an inability to recruit against the "bigger" conferences for the premier performer.

Might be a good pick up. Did not exactly excel at BC were he averaged only 3 points a game and 1 assist last year. Saw him play several times in HS, very athletic but never understood why he was rated as high as he was.

Johnny Jones: Ben Bell PG Kenrick Davis G Calvin Watson G Quincy Williams F Keith Wooden C Yes it is this year's team. Shawnson was the best center, however I never understood giving him a two year ship for 1 semester of play. Vic Trilli: Jerome Rogers Pg Lenard Hopkins G Chris Davis G Brandon Gilbert F Brian Lucas C Erskine was good enough to be one of the best at NT but transferring got him off my team. Kudos to Chris and Lenard for continuing to play for NT during/after the Trilli fiasco. Tim Jankovich: Tom Etchison PG George King G David Miller F Adam Smith F Sean Riley C Jimmy Gales: Deon Hunter PG Ricky Robinson G Jessie Ratliff F Ronnie Morgan C Tom Gipson C Tommy Newman: Deon Alexander PG Glenroy Feguson G Keenan Dubose F Tony Worrell F Paul Elkjer C Bill Blakeley: Weasel Johnson PG Delonte Taylor G Jon Manning G Ken Lyons F John Horrocks C Gene Robbins: Larry Spruiell PG Carl Jones G Bobby Iverson F Stan Blackman C Terry Bailey C Robbins could recruit; others that would have been on most other coaches all star teams: Fred Mitchell, Melvin Davis, Ken Williams Dan Spika (From 67 on) Joe Hamilton PG Crest Whitaker G Leroy Winfield F Al Shumate F Bill Cutter F

You really think the primary thing that kept NT from getting a higher seed was playing 3 non-1a schools in out of conference play? The loss to UTA or 10-8 Belt record did not also factor in? I am all for upgrading the schedule, however the reality with the lack of support our BB team currently gets, it is not an easy task. Seems that your argument that the NAIA games did nothing to gain attention, only the tournament victory got us the media coverage; also could be used to to make the point that the OC schedule has very little relevance at all.

Biggest I can remember James Rodewell (?) played for Parker until health issues surfaced. Playing defensive tackle I saw him literally collapse a whole side of the offensive line. He was listed at 6'6 350 but was probably around 400 lbs. Tom Gipson whose son latter played on the NT basketball team was 6'9 300 + lbs, a giant when he played in 1970. The biggest running back to play for the Green, ex-basketball player Stan Blackman who played both te and rb for Fry at 6'7 1/2 245.

Seems NT got a little attention this year.

I believe La Tech AD has stated that La Tech would not return to the Belt under any circumstances. If it were my decision they would never have the option of returning to the Belt. One team in North Louisiana is enough.

The odds against Slinker's team making the NCAA's are astronomical. This is a much better WBB league than MBB. I think NT is missing a great chance to make a move in WBB, there is a lot of talent coming back next year and a new coach might be able to compete with the best in the Belt. There is nothing in TS's 18 years to make me believe that she is suddenly going to develop a championship team. The bold move would have been to make a change this year. I think that the team with TS as coach could very well win 18 games next season. Do you really think RV is going to terminate TS after 19 years with a 18-11 record?

Until NT greatly improves their attendance I see nothing wrong with the scheduling of two or even three non !A schools. Almost every school does schedule victories these days. Given a choice between playing lower level 1a schools and drawing 1500 and having to return the game and bringing in a non-1a and drawing 1200, I would take the latter. Also unlike playing a 200+ rpi 1a school that lowers your rpi, the non-ia do not count at all.

I guess you never made any of the Southland tournaments held in Shreveport. I am sure things have greatly improved but the fair ground arena that was used in those tournaments was as bad a venue as I have ever seen a college game in. NT attendance was marginally better but hardly good and there was little local support. IMO, I am much more concerned about NT's attendance than the overall tournament. Despite Lafayette being a six hour drive from Dallas there was probably less than 30 NT fans at the first two games excluding pep organizations. The championship game was a little better but I wondered why the President or the AD made none of the games. This NT team deserves much better support and perhaps this championship can start to turn it around.