NT80

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NT also had John Horrocks who was a 7-footer, and I believe another at one time. Usually they are projects when we get them.

DD should take at look at him for OL. Now if he was 7'2 I'd really be excited for him and basketball.

Blakeley had a lot of frustration after Fry left. I do think NT had better crowds back then than now. He got us home games with Texas and DePaul and other better known programs. Blakeley did recruit some good players like Ken Lyons, Jon Manning, Weasel Johnson, Ken Robinson, etc. Nelson , Bill - - - 1982-1983 - - Bill Blakeley Smith , Mookie - 6'2 - F - 1982-1983 - - Bill Blakeley Grissom , Greg - 6'10 - C - 1981-1982 - - Bill Blakeley Horrocks , John - 7'0 - C - 1981-1982 - - Bill Blakeley Johnson , Wayne "Pee Wee" - - G - 1981-1982 - - Bill Blakeley Williams , Merritt - - - 1981-1982 - - Bill Blakeley Dupree , Javan - 6'4 - F - 1980-1981 - Paschal HS , Ft. Worth, TX - Bill Blakeley Gales , John - 6'6 - F - 1980-1981 - Trimble Tech - Bill Blakeley Hamlin , Div - 6'5 - F - 1980-1981 - - Bill Blakeley McDade , Fred - 6'3 - G - 1980-1981 - Denton HS , Denton, TX - Bill Blakeley Taylor , Delonte - 6'4 - G - 1980-1981 - TCU , Washington DC - Bill Blakeley Hicks , Pat - 6'2 - PG - 1979-1980 - Madison HS , Houston - Bill Blakeley Lyons , Kenneth - 6'7 - SF - 1979-1980 - Trimble Tech , Ft Worth, TX - Bill Blakeley Macalik , Tony - 6'7 - SF - 1979-1980 - Skyline HS , Dallas, TX - Bill Blakeley Nealy , Furmia - 6'1 - PG - 1979-1980 - Dunbar HS , Ft Worth, TX - Bill Blakeley Taylor , Michael - 6'3 - - 1979-1980 - - Bill Blakeley Guon , Mike - 6'6 - SF - 1978-1979 - - Bill Blakeley Hardaway , Billy - - - 1978-1979 - - Bill Blakeley Malion , Bernt - 6'6 - F - 1978-1979 - - Bill Blakeley Vasher , David - 6'3 - BG - 1978-1979 - Wilmer Hutchins , Dallas, TX - Bill Blakeley Williams , Al - - - 1978-1979 - - Bill Blakeley Gamble , James - 6'2 - PG - 1977-1978 - Lincoln HS , Port Arthur, TX - Bill Blakeley Gardner , Charles - 6'7 - F - 1977-1978 - , Searcy, AK - Bill Blakeley Manning , Jon - 6'2 - BG - 1977-1978 - Oklahoma City Univ. , Pontiac, MI - Bill Blakeley Adkisson , David - 6'7 - C - 1976-1977 - Lake Dallas HS , Lake Dallas, TX - Bill Blakeley Boyd , Greg - 6'3 - G - 1976-1977 - Denton HS , Denton, TX - Bill Blakeley Kaspar , Danny - 6'3 - BG - 1976-1977 - King HS , Corpus Christi - Bill Blakeley McMillian , Charles - 6'3 - BG - 1976-1977 - Tyler JC , Dallas, TX (SOC) - Bill Blakeley Robinson , Ken - 6'8 - C - 1976-1977 - North Lamar HS , Paris, TX - Bill Blakeley Smoak , Craig - 6'7 - C - 1976-1977 - , Brooklyn, NY - Bill Blakeley Wise , Danny - 6'6 - F - 1976-1977 - Milby HS , Houston, TX - Bill Blakeley Johnson , Walter "Weasel" - 6'0 - PG - 1975-1976 - McLennan JC , Houston, TX (Milby) - Bill Blakeley Lister , Waymond - 6'3 - BG - 1975-1976 - South Oak Cliff , Dallas, TX - Bill Blakeley Miles , Norvell - 6'3 - BG - 1975-1976 - Navarro JC , Dallas, TX (SOC) - Bill Blakeley Teddar , Paul - 6'9 - C - 1975-1976 - Richardson , Richardson, TX - Bill Blakeley

NT should be easy to recruit for. Good location, quality education, great facility, Division I program, yada, yada. I don't buy the recruiting vodoo. Football and other sports do OK recruiting to NT. It's not like you have to find 25 new players each season. Bill Blakeley didn't complain about recruiting, in fact he was about to bring Spud Webb to North Texas.

I agree we need to elevate recruiting. We lost a couple recruits to homesickness, personal issues, etc., but the talent level has not been raised above what Trilli had. I'm concerned about hosting the SBC Tourney next year with a team that could be sub-.500 again.

More local interest big goal for new SMU coach Tubbs turns to area basketball coaches to help meet objective 09:06 PM CST on Friday, March 26, 2004 By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News UNIVERSITY PARK – Oklahoma men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson said Jimmy Tubbs is the ambassador to Dallas basketball. And Tubbs' supporters arrived Friday morning when SMU announced Tubbs as its 15th head coach in school history. Tubbs, 55, signed a four-year contract. Financial terms were not disclosed. Tubbs replaces Mike Dement, who was fired Feb. 27. "In my mind and the committee's mind, Jimmy Tubbs became the standard that I judged all the other people against," athletic director Jim Copeland said. The decision to hire Tubbs could lead to more area recruits playing at SMU, specifically those from the Dallas Independent School District. It's been two seasons since SMU successfully recruited a DISD player. And Tubbs and the DISD coaches expect that to change. "You coaches promised me you will help me recruit," Tubbs told several DISD coaches in the audience at a news conference. "You promised me you will help SMU win, and I'm putting you on the spot right now that come next year when I come to your school don't say, 'Well Jimmy he's thinking about Duke. I don't want to hear it." Tubbs said if he doesn't work hard at recruiting, he doesn't expect any area players to commit to SMU. It was those strong ties to the area that helped Tubbs during the interview process. "He was exceptional," search committee member and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt said. "He did an excellent job. There was a general feeling he had a love for SMU and for Dallas. He made a favorable impression on the committee." SMU officials estimated 300 people showed up for Tubbs' news conference Friday at Moody Coliseum. It was the most attended news conference in recent memory for the announcement of a head coach at SMU. When Tubbs was finished talking to the media, several high school coaches, such as Kimball's Royce Johnson and South Oak Cliff's James Mays II, left wearing SMU hats. Robert Hughes, the legendary coach of Fort Worth Dunbar, and Goree Johnson, DISD's assistant athletic director, also had SMU hats. "Recruiting kids out of Dallas got a little tougher today," Sampson said. "No question in my mind that Jimmy was the right choice for SMU. Dallas is his town, and SMU is his school. It's just his time. The DISD coaches look at him and say, he's one of us and he made it." It was a special moment for Tubbs, who said he was emotional about the hiring process. "I left here two years ago, and I left crying," said Tubbs, who stressed the Mustangs will play man-to-man defense and use an up-tempo offense. "I came back [Thursday night] smiling. I did not come to date SMU, I came here to marry SMU. You have to understand that. I'm back home." Tubbs joins the Mustangs after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma. Before that, he spent 12 seasons as an assistant with the Mustangs, earning a reputation as a strong recruiter. Tubbs began his head coaching career at Kimball, where he spent eight seasons and compiled a 232-42 record. He won the Class 5A state title in 1990. It was that background that enabled him to recruit several area players, such as Jeryl Sasser, Willie Davis and Bryan Hopkins, to SMU. "We're going to send players here," Mays said. "I think everybody wants to help Jimmy because he will put forth the effort to succeed." With the strong local connections, the Mustangs expect to find more area players coming through. "We're going to win and win big here, that's a guarantee," Tubbs said.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004 By Andy Katz ESPN.com Larry Eustachy, who resigned in disgrace as Iowa State coach 10 months ago, will be named head coach at Southern Mississippi as early as Thursday afternoon, multiple sources have told ESPN.com. Eustachy has reached an agreement in principle on a contract that was still being finalized Wednesday night. Southern Miss athletic director Richard Giannini called candidates Wednesday to tell them that Eustachy would get the job. A Southern Miss official would neither confirm nor deny the coach's pending hiring, but a news conference is planned for 4 p.m. ET Thursday. Attempts to reach Eustachy on Wednesday were unsuccessful. He replaces James Green, who resigned as Southern Miss coach on March 5. Eustachy and Iowa State officials agreed in May to sever ties and avoid a costly, drawn-out legal fight. His resignation came one week after a newspaper published embarrassing photos of him drinking and partying with students in Columbia, Mo., following an Iowa State-Missouri game in January 2003. At the time of his departure, Eustachy had won 101 games and two Big 12 championships in five seasons as Cyclones coach, reached the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight in 2000, and was twice named Big 12 coach of the year. He had eight years remaining on a 10-year deal, and received about $1.1 million annually. He was paid $110,000 for the remainder of 2003 and then received a lump sum of $850,000 on Jan. 1. The 48-year-old Eustachy has spent the past year dealing with his alcohol problem, telling ESPN.com in December that he had been sober for 10 months and wanted to return to coaching. At that time, Eustachy said he was going to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Iowa, speak to student groups about the dangers of alcohol, and attend colleagues' practices around the country. Eustachy also was interested in the James Madison job but chose to pursue the Southern Miss opening more vigorously. Middle Tennessee State coach Kermit Davis Jr. and Cincinnati assistant Andy Kennedy also were interviewed by Giannini. Green coached eight seasons at Southern Miss and was in the final year of a four-year contract. Green, who did not coach the Eagles' final regular-season game against East Carolina, was 123-109. He coached the Eagles to a 2000-01 Conference USA division title and was named C-USA coach of the year. Green was a former Tim Floyd assistant at Iowa State and succeeded him as Cyclones coach. Sources said Floyd, who is now the coach of the NBA's New Orleans Hornets, was influential in helping Eustachy find another college job. Eustachy, who left Utah State in 1998 to coach at Iowa State, has a career record of 260-145 over 13 seasons. Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

Yes, I thought so but couldn't remember when he was at NT. Thanks.

Wasn't Melvin Haralson an assistant once at NT or am I thinking of someone else?

How can Syracuse spend $8.4 million on basketball, 8.4 MILLION? That's a lot of basketballs. That's more than some complete SBC athletic budgets for ALL sports!

I would like that idea! Also, TWU recently announced it was ending it's journalism department, in part because UNT has a good one, and that too could be a sign of the future melding of the two schools, plus it would save state higher education tax $$.

Nice info list from Cooley over on the Mean and Green board: all-time NT men's basketball recruit list

WKU didn't need two gyms this year to host both tourneys did they? Why do we?

I saw Jason Miller honored on TV as one of 3 seniors during senior's day vs. A$M in front of another sellout crowd of 13,000+ in Stillwater. He also now has a Big?12 championship ring and will soon play in the NCAA tourney. I wish we (NT) could have offered him as much to have stayed besides just more playing time, but maybe if he and Deg and others had stayed we could be going to the NCAA's too?

I haven't been listening, but I saw the score 42-15 at half, what happened?? Did we oversleep for the game?

Slackers need not apply for this role BY WALTER VILLA, wvilla@herald.com DURHAM, N.C. - Camping out for Duke tickets isn't only for fans. In rare circumstances, athletes do it, too. Former Westminster Christian golfer Ryan Blaum, the ACC Rookie of the Year last season at Duke, camped out for a week to get in to the Feb. 22 Maryland game. "Camping for one week is considered slack," said Blaum, who grew up a Hurricanes fan. The only reason Blaum had the time to camp was because he had a back injury that temporarily kept him from playing golf. When he got hurt, his girlfriend asked him to fill in for a camper who left the 12-person group. "I wouldn't [camp] for a month, but for a week, it was worth it," Blaum said. EYES WIDE OPEN One problem, Blaum said, is that sleep is pretty much a foreign concept in this tent city. "Everyone is so active here -- there is a band playing, there are kids throwing frisbees or footballs, talking. The earliest you can even think about sleeping is 1 a.m.," he said. "Then at about 2:15, they give you a one-hour grace period to go eat at this 24-hour place on campus. So you end up going to sleep at 3:30 and waking up three hours later for class. "But it's a great experience. It's the only time I'll be able to do this." BEAT THE HEELS Blaum just hopes Duke beats North Carolina, especially after the Blue Devils' home winning streak of 41 games -- which had been the longest in the nation -- was snapped Wednesday by Georgia Tech. "People live and die Duke basketball here," he said. "When Duke loses, you can just tell on campus. People walk around depressed."

It wouldn't be good to open with WKU at WKU. If we lose to USA aren't we still the #5 seed and play WKU anyway, or not?

They already are!

Right-minded SMU gets it all wrong again 11:34 PM CST on Friday, February 27, 2004 UNIVERSITY PARK – Jim Copeland lassoed SMU football and yanked it back to the Hilltop where it belongs. He spearheaded the effort to build the finest little college football corral, Gerald J. Ford Stadium, that you can find. He's gotten donors to double their giving to Mustangs sports. He's helped make SMU athletics a top-10 program among private schools in the country, what with the success of its swimmers and soccer teams and golfers and tennis players. But the athletic director fell to 0-2 on Friday when it comes to all anyone really pays attention to: football and basketball. Copeland fired Mike Dement, the man he handpicked to return the men's basketball program to prominence. Just a few years ago, he fired the man he picked to do the same for Ponies football. Colleges Pony distress: SMU fires Dement with 3 games left in season Blackistone: Right-minded SMU gets it all wrong again It was enough to make one wonder if SMU president Gerald Turner shouldn't have asked Copeland to join Dement. "I think that's how we are judged," Copeland said of basketball and football coaching hires. There is good reason, though maybe unfair, why that is so. Those are the so-called revenue-generating sports. ADs better be as good with those as possible, otherwise they wind up doing something else unpleasant, like cutting, say, the men's track program, which Copeland just did last week. The questions for SMU are: Are they as good at both as can be expected, especially basketball right now? Was Dement's demise Dement's fault, or Copeland's or SMU's in general? "The first person I always question is myself," Copeland admitted. "I always look back when things haven't worked." His basketball and football hires certainly haven't worked, unless you hold sacred the ideal of educating and graduating student athletes. Copeland took another stab at football by hiring Phil Bennett to replace Mike Cavan. In Bennett's recently ended second season, his Mustangs went winless. Copeland will now take another shot at finding a basketball coach who can do what John Shumate, the coach he inherited and fired, did in 1993: win a conference title and a berth to the NCAA Tournament. Good luck. It would seem that finding a winning formula for basketball is easier than for football. Just get a handful of solid players and one really good one and wait to see your name pop up on Selection Sunday. But you've got to be able to get those players first. And with a basketball facility that hasn't been seriously upgraded in a generation, SMU doesn't have much of a chance. It is that simple. Everyone knows it. We've said so before. SMU doesn't need a new arena, but it is no secret that it is in dire need of a separate practice gym and workout facility for its men's and women's basketball teams. Even Rice figured that out, and the Owls this season find themselves with an outside shot at getting to a postseason tournament, maybe even the big one. And the best coaches who might have wandering eyes aren't likely to look long at SMU without some assurances that they'll have as much ammunition as their main competitors. One of the reasons TCU was able to lure longtime Roy Williams assistant Neil Dougherty to Fort Worth was it committed to building a practice facility, which is scheduled to open within months. (Talk about the tortoise beating the hare. How far behind have the Horned Frogs left the Ponies?) Copeland dressed up his situation as best he could after announcing Dement's dismissal. He admitted the school needed to upgrade its basketball infrastructure but had nothing more than a blueprint to do so. No one is out raising the $16 million estimated to turn that blueprint into brick and mortar. Copeland said he thinks SMU and Dallas are attractive enough to draw a fine new hoops coach. An early rumor was that Eddie Sutton's son Sean expressed interest, which would buttress Copeland's optimism. A couple other phone calls and faxes rolled into Moody Coliseum before Dement was fresh out. The funny thing is, I think Dement was the right type of hire for SMU then and now. Ultimately, this is better sold as a steppingstone program rather than a destination. Copeland should hire an up-and-coming coach looking to make his name in order to be swept up by a bigger school. Or he should call a guy like former SMU assistant Jimmy Tubbs, who has strong Dallas and Texas ties, just like Bennett, which he can turn into potential recruiting bonanzas. In fact, that's the way Dement's departure should have gone. He should've left for a bigger program after having success at SMU, and Tubbs should've ascended the ladder. Then Copeland wouldn't be questioning himself or, worse, being questioned.

Thanks Harry, I just screamed at my computer!

SMU to fire basketball coach 12:46 PM CST on Friday, February 27, 2004 By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News SMU will hold a 4 p.m. news conference today to announce the firing of men's basketball coach Mike Dement. Dement was told about his dismissal by athletic director Jim Copeland this morning, according to school officials. Dement will inform the team before today's scheduled 1 p.m. practice. An interim coach for the remainder of the season will probably be named at the news conference. Dement, who has one year remaining on his contract, had asked SMU for an extension before the start of the season. Copeland said he wanted to extend the contract, but said he would wait to evaluate his coach at the end of the season. The 39-point loss to Boise State last night, SMU's second worst at Moody Coliseum, apparently was too much to handle for Copeland. SMU has lost by double figures seven times this season, including a 35-point loss on national television to Oklahoma State and an 80-40 loss at Rice. SMU (10-15) started the season 6-3 with wins over Texas Tech and Purdue, but has lost 12 of 16 games since. The Mustangs are 4-11 in Western Athletic Conference play. Dement, in his ninth season, has a record of 138-120 at SMU. Since going 8-20 in his first season, he has won at least 15 games each year, but has failed to coach SMU to an NCAA tournament berth. SMU was 21-9 in 1999-2000, but lost in the first round of the NIT in Dement's lone postseason appearance at the school. He has a career record of 260-243.

Can Bliss be charged legally with anything? I know he resigned, but is he liable for any damages done to BU or it's players? It seems too many times a guilty coach just leaves his trash behind for someone else to clean up. There should be lifetime coaching bans on people like this and legal consequences.

No. 4 Sooners Come Back To Defeat Mean Green, 5-4 Norman, OK (2/18/04)- The Mean Green softball team held a one-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners scored two runs to defeat North Texas, 5-4, on Wednesday afternoon at the OU Softball Complex. Oklahoma defeated North Texas, 7-2, in the first game and came back to win, 5-4, in the nightcap. The Sooners stay undefeated with an 8-0-1 record, while North Texas dropped to 2-12. "I thought we played awesome," said NT head coach Stacey Segal. "We hit a couple home runs, a couple doubles. For three innings, we were ahead of the fourth-ranked team in the country. This is a great sign of things to come. Now, we are looking forward to coming home for a few days." The Mean Green scored four runs in the fourth inning of the second game to move ahead of the Sooners, 4-3. Freshman Susan Waters hit her second home run of the season to start off the inning. Freshman Heather Bostic and junior Stephanie Cranmer both got on base with singles, and with the bases loaded Maureen Kelley walked to give NT another run. Bostic led the team offensively, going 4-for-5 in the two games. In addition to her home run in the second game, Waters also posted a double in the first half of the doubleheader. Junior Brittiny Chapman went 1-for-2 in the first game with a home run. OU pitcher Nicole Denes earned two victories in the doubleheader, striking out a combined 15 batters. North Texas returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 19, hosting Sam Houston State at 6 pm.

Here is another active CUSA board....... CUSA board thru killerfrogs