NT71

Thanks Harry Did you do the same thing for Clemson? It helps to see the stats to see where we are in terms of offense and defense and I am speaking about the Summary Stats.

Hurrah!!! We have a starting QB. I would love to see Nathan bring home the wins from the O side and keep their D on the field a long time. And would like our D to force a 3 and out on our opponents O. Go Mean Green FB Team. Look forward to our first win of the season at Clemson.

MeanGreen Texan you and I think alike and I believe that there are more of the Mean Green Nation that think the same way. You deserve a +1

Many of you may not remember the Big West days it was awful a lot of travel expenses which left little to nothing to build athletics at NT. Have you folks ever thought that the pieces are beginning to come together. What I mean is you have the Consultant who is well connected and will be advising NT also the interim President at NT had worked with this consultant to bring about the Conference USA. I am upbeat that what could be happening behind the scenes is possible reshuffling of two conferences to become more regionalized or formulating a new conference which would draw teams from both the Sunbelt and CUSA. Do not know but you can bet that both RV and the Pres along with the Board of Trustees are looking at how to best put NT ahead in a conference realignment. Agree that the WAC is imploding and will become an old 1-AA conference. The MWC would not serve NT because of high travel costs and little press coverage due to time zone differences.

My thoughts are there are many people who have done great things in athletics for North Texas and to put someone's name on the stadium would in deed be an honor for that person or group of people. Take a look at some of the high profile programs and what they named their fields: Alabama -- Legion Field LSU -- Death Valley So how about----- Mean Green Express!! Why the name take a look over the years we have had great running backs, and what about the defenses we have had several standouts who have stuffed the runners and picked off passes and returned them and put the offense in a good position to score.

RV was giving some great insight and one of the things he mentioned was that there may be a possibility of getting La Tech on our schedule. Could this be a segway that La Tech may become our first game in the new stadium? However, RV did make two key points and that is we need to increase attendence at our FB games and that we need to Win games period. I am hopeful that TD will win 7+ games this year.

Would like RV's thoughts for the next stage of moving NT forward with the consultant feedback. Does he invision that there could be a new conference formed from C-USA West teams and some SBC teams. If so how many teams (total number) would be involved? Would also like his thoughts on the state of NT football. Personally I would love to see Coach Dodge succeed as he has upgraded the quality of athlete both from quality of character, and role model for the community.

I have found being in the Mid Atlantic area that usually folks who talk to you are other alumni or folks from Texas and it is a little bit different up here. Folks are very supportive of institutions from Texas.

Harry I am one of the folks that are out of town and do appreciate you and all the contributors on the board. The forum you began has grown and offers a unique perspective. How many boards do you know that gets the AD on a pod cast to give us an update on the Mean Green. Keep up the good work and can you advise when we will get an update from RV on the football team and when we can expect to find out about when the out side consultant will arrive and then complete his work. GMG

I think when you look at where we are there are two keys special teams and defense. With the hiring of Coach Canales the offense should be in good shape. For breakout player I agree that unless D steps it as stated by NT03 it may be a long season. I hope the breakout player is the whole D line and the placekicker.

I voted no. Why have you ever been around a drunk woman or man? Enough said.

Based on the comments from folks in Houston it would seem that they will be lobbying MWC to leave the WAC. If La Tech leaves because of the travel costs then my prediction that the WAC will implode may become fact. Even the lowly Sunbelt has two bowl tie ins. The key for UNT is to see if in fact there is the possibility of a potential merger of Sunbelt/CUSA to adjust both toward more regional conferences. Or there maybe opportunities to create a new conference out of western CUSA and Sunbelt schools and maybe pull in La Tech from the WAC. My dream conference would be UNT, Tulsa, Ark St, La Tech, ULLafayette, Tulane, Houston, UTEP, SMU, Rice which would give us a Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisana regional conference. Just my .02 worth.

As has previously been mentioned by several folks the key for UNT is to win football games and add baseball. The WAC will probably implode because of the high cost and loss of bowl as I think La Tech will have to withdraw because they can not afford the travel costs. As has been mentioned our best alternative would be the MWC yes the travel costs would go up but our facilities will have been completed. The only question would be if TCU would be willing to back us going into the MWC. Do I think it will happen in the next year or two, no. The big question when the next shuffle will begin will be can we get into a geographical regional conference. I know that some of the oldtimers at SMU does not think highly of UNT. However, they will need to wakeup and be realistic. College football and conferences will be changing over the next few years and my guess is that you will see a concerted effort due to the economy and other factors to move to more regional geographical conferences once you get past the AQ conferences. My vote is to see us in a more regional conference structure where our conference mates come out of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Lousiana with true D1 conference mates. That is my .02

Based on the article it would seem to me that the WAC is about to implode as Fresno reconizes you can not stay with underfunded programs and hope to get further in the climb to athletic excellence. And many of them will be scrambling to go either into other conferences such as Sunbelt or lower level competition like The Big Sky or Southland or other conferences that would be close the respective universities or colleges. For those of us who have been around and remember the Big West going to the WAC makes as much no since, been there done that and no thank you. There are only two conferences that make since in moving up the MWC and the Big 12-2. However, where do I think we will land? One of three places: a hybrid of Sunbelt/CUSA; the CUSA; or remain in the Sunbelt since there was no additional conference movement from CUSA teams to other conferences.

My thoughts are that WAC may implode, because I do not know if LA Tech will survive financially and will leave to go to Sunbelt, unless they can pull in Wyoming, Montana and Montana State which is doubtful given NCAA regs about moving up. Also, in another post the Commissioner of WAC knew nothing about UNT since the last time they tried to recruit us to that conference. CUSA is becoming unstable because of the possibility of several schools leaving to go to Big East. This unstable possibility will result probably in opening for LA Tech to go to CUSA and a few Sunbelt teams which may or may not include UNT. The Commissioner of CUSA has taken notice of UNT building athletics in another post. Now that the politicans are getting involved in trying to legislate Houston going into Big 12 who is to say that maybe UNT could get some assistance from Lee Jackson to help put us in the Big 12 (okay I am thinking out of the box with Green Koolaide). Realistically the best conference from a strength position would probably be the Mountain West but at this moment I do not see UNT receiving an invite anytime soon. Bottom Line what makes the most since for UNT is where the AD, President and Board of Regents will lead us.

The question beocmes does the Big 12 try to pick up CUSA schools or fold. If fold then the remaining schools Baylor, K St. Mo. & Iowa St. could go to MWC this assumes that KU goes in the place of A&M to Pac 10 and A&M to SEC. Who else would the SEC take beside A&M my guess is Virginia Tech to bring another state into SEC which means that have picked up Tex & Virginia So the next logical question is at the mid level who raids whom because I do not think that the Big 10 will add more than one (Neb). The MAC is set. The WAC will be looking to raid since they lost Boise St. My guess is they may go after the CUSA West. But the key is how many do they take or do the three conferences (WAC,CUSA,Sunbelt)get together and try to come up with two consolidated regional conferences? My guess is that with the mega conferences of PAC 10 and SEC, survival of the mid level schools will result in a merger between the three conferences unless the Big East goes raiding which would result in fewer schools from the CUSA to merge with the Belt & WAC. That is my .02

Folks Do not forget that our AD came from Southern Mississippi area which is in the C-USA. I would think two different options will come about if in fact the Big 12 splits up. A new conference emerges as was stated in a previous post which would be Texas schools, Tulsa, Tulane and of course one of the Texas schools is UNT. The second option would be that CUSA picks up UNT along with two other schools. In the next few weeks the conferences as we know them today will change but the question will be into what. The next question will be is the US Congress or Dept of Justice going to look at the consolidation of conference as an anti-trust violation. If that occurs then who knows what will happen because how would the anti-trust be remedied? It could force them back into the same conferences or the revenue stream would be modified to benefit the other conferences. Just my thoughts

As we pause at 3:00pm for a moment of memory of those brave men & women who gave up their tomorrows so that we have our freedom do not forget those veterans who bare the scars and survived the wars. The next time you see either a veteran or one serving in the military tell them thanks for their service. As you can see by the post by eulesismoore there are many families who have had some one pay the ultimate price for this great nation, the United States of America.

Vito's article makes the key points from a basketball perspective and that is our coach has athletes that graduate and win games. However, I would like to see him go to the NCAA tournment and go all the way.