GrandGreen

Wow that is scheduling up, they went 1-30 last year. May have been the worst team in the nation.

I for some reason, don't care what a publication I have never heard of; did not even rate NT's football team for next year.

NT now has 5 players signed/committed that are 6'9 or over. Sissoko, Newell, Lorient, Vice and Smith A lot of size and maybe not much quickness with the shortest players 6'1, 6'1, and 6'3. Other guards listed at 6'4, 6'5, 6'5, 6'6 and 6'6. Seems like a completely different team concept that NT is going to use versus the past. With only one player returning that was used much in Walker, it obviously a developmental team. I thrust that NT will still be a defense first team, but how that works with this very tall squad will be interesting.

Death and taxes are the only guarantees Success in athletes is directly tied to the money invested The more spend, the more likely of a winning program Sure money will be wasted at any athletic program, but the cure for that is the hiring of competent people to manage the funds not just decide to not compete. The major programs have to search for ways to wisely spend money, that is not true for the rest of the unfortunate including all the designated G league teams

Again, why? The so called P5 level gets most of the attention and money. Do they really want to endure all the legal problems with creating even more of a monopoly? Most are perfectly able to see the logical extension of an exclusive league of the top forty to fifty top schools. They would have to play a lot more equal schedule and as now the same SEC schools would dominate. Seven or eight wins would be a great season for most members of this division. Add the problems of funding and scheduling for all sports not football or men's basketball, and lack of geographical rivals. Plus at some point, a disillusioned fan base is going to see the folly of NIL and stop funding another pro league. The NFL at least sees the wisdom of some parity to competition. They have drafts, salary caps, comparable schedules, and player and staff limits that foster competition. While the NCAA has some of these controls, they seem more than willing to weaken or eliminate them.

I do agree that geographic horror of a conference will not survive, just look at a map of it. It makes no sense for SMU to be a part of it. SMU is not close to any other member school. I cannot imagine not only the cost but how much class time will be lost due to travel. For football and men's basketball, travel cost may not be that big a factor. However, SMU has equestrian, rowing, swimming & diving, and track. Are they really going to transport horses that far, I doubt it. It was a desperate move for SMU and it will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

However, SMU bought themselves into the ACC without a doubt. Which is in my view, a lot harder to believe than being able to get an offer from the crumbling B12. Have you looked at the ACC. That is probably as good a conference as there is outside of the SEC.

Never underestimate the resources SMU has. I don't know who or how many, but SMU has fans that have kept them relevant despite pitiful overall fan support.

As I remember the head coach was a volunteer and on social security. The team was actually a great bang for the book group and won a few and scared a lot of good teams.

All predictions are made on what is known by the predictor at the time. The predictions are much more difficult to be accurate due to the massive squad changes for most teams.

Say Hey was greatness, on the field and apparently off the field. When I was a teenager and listened to baseball every day and sometime got to watch. Aaron, Mays, Musial, Mantle, Berra: it didn't get any better.

First rate actor, he will be missed by movie and tv fans.

The very same thing is true for basketball, football, track, volleyball and I have not seem a lot of championships in those sports. If you follow soccer at all, you would recognize that NT always gets a bad seed and ends up playing a top tier team in the first round. Yes, it would be great to win one, but firing the coach because he only wins conference championships would be insane. I wish we had that problem in other sports, we don't because none of them have been that consistently successful.

Let St. John's worry about Scott. He was a good player for NT, but I never saw the Pro potential that some predicted.

I would never give a coach a contract designed to keep him/her here the rest of his career.

Yes, this NIL is a great system if you think buying players should be the key to building successful programs. Recruit well and develop players so they can be bought by another team. Sounds like a fine basis to foster fair competition.

Tough audience I believe taking a 11-20, 8-12 team to 23-9, 13-5 in one is year is amazing Single season or not, he IMO deserves the highest ranking

An always (to me) interesting topic; Rating the NT head coaches Keep happy and at NT Delong-Softball Burton-WBB Akers-Women Golf Hedlund-Soccer Jury still out Hodge-MBB I am happy with his results thus far, hard to judge with the horrible NIL situation Morris-Football Have liked his coaching of the offensive side, think he will improve the defense Calcatera-Men Golf New hire Stone-Women Tennis It was past time for a change, and she is a good choice Marshall-Track, CC Great start, I have little doubt the track team will continue to get better under his leadership Porter-Volleyball Definitely elevated the program over the prior coach, want to see who she recruits as she loses some good-to-great players Questionable Roth-Women Swimming She is still here despite mediocre results, there has to be a rationale (ie: poor facilities to recruit to, desire to spend as little as possible on this team, etc.) She could be doing an excellent job considering these factors

The defense was bad, therefore the defensive coordinator must be. It is not nearly that simple.

There may have been a few, but in general the Lee Jackson hire was far from popular. If you like low key executives with seemingly few accomplishments, Jackson may have been a good choice. Of course, I was underwhelmed by the Smatresk hire and he imo turned out to be very good for NT.

I assume that the portal players are assigned also by were they are located.

My take is a bit different. Not disagreeing with NT having poor financial support is an issue, but I do think this has a lot more to do with outside forces than it does NT. One factor, that is rarely mentioned is that NT's early integration played a substantial role in NT not being in a Texas conference . Being in the MVC certainly didn't help create fans as the SWC ruled the state and did everything they could to maintain that status. This may be ancient history, but I believe the effect still lingers. Students that wanted a rah rah sports oriented school did not pick NT if they had other options College student support is now becoming more equal not because of NT's progress, but now most students are just not as interested as in the past in college sports. Teams are propped up by rich alums that grew up when college sports were much more popular. This audience will fade away. College sports has thus far survived NIL, title 9 and other government intervention; but at some point unless massive changes are made, it will not in the future.

It is very common for players that enter the portal, to return to their old teams. Obviously, the coach has to want them back and be willing to set a precedent that will allow players to return. I would expect a lot of programs are not willing to do that. However, in reality the better the player is; the more likely he/she will be welcomed back.

Apparently the basketball world does not agree, or he would have signed somewhere a little higher on the athletic food chain. He was primarily a starter at NT, but only averaged 7.1 pts and 2.1 rbs a game. You and I seem to have a big difference in our definition of what qualifies as a star.

That graduating class is going to be almost impossible to replace, but the new recruits look like they may be capable of coming close.