PlummMeanGreen

When North Texas didn't even make the SWC meeting agenda for membership in Fry's last few months in Denton, he started looking ASAP for another job for himself and his coaching staff. He wanted to go to bowl games and he also wanted to coach before larger crowds. Some think Fry did all the SWC talk just to garner attention for himself--I am not one of those. UT's Darrell Royal was said to have been one of our strongest supporters for SWC membership, but still there were "4" private schools in that league who may have said "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah with lipservice for UNT membership" but would have voted no,no, no, no in a closed ballot. Honestly, Mean Green 93-98, I cannot add too much more than what Gray Eagle has so elegantly posted above. G.E. won't like me saying this because we tend to agree to disagree on the subject, but (still)...........IMHO.......SMU has never been our friend and never will for those of you who think they are and will be in the sweet by and by. Their Prez' Gerald Turner avoids the subject of North Texas almost as if you were talking to him about a possible outbreak of the bubonic plague with ground zero on his campus. He's SMU all the way insasmuch as he thinks he is President of an Ivy League school which he is not. I don't think SMU's standards are even remotely close to Ivy League standards. Yet as I put myself in SMU's shoes I think I know how I might feel about a large DFW Metroplex public university and now a system that is building campuses (law school, pharmacy school, possible MD school, etc) all around the Hilltop and for anyone to think that SMU'ers haven't noticed all this would be most naive on their part. Still iSMU is a private and UNT a public and I think UNT'ers understand the differences and the missions of the 2 than SMU'ers seem to, but it's still that difference which gives them just enough to look down their noses at us albeit they don't seem to do the same with other public universities of equal or less stature than UNT's. That alone is very telling of their attitude toward us. Don't be completely surprised or shocked if the SMU/UNT home and home football series gets bought out, either. Would that be a final convincer for some of you if that happened? North Texas (as said many times on GMG.com) just needs to take care of North Texas. I think we will all be totally amazed with the results of doing that if we can just put all the right pieces in place up there. From the Abner Haynes Era all the way thru the Fry era, anyone ever notice how many schools we would have like to have played would not schedule North Texas? Many of these very same schools have large margins of wins versus losses over North Texas subsequently because they just would not tee it up with us when they knew we were better and we would have piled up many "L's" on their side of the ledger versus UNT. You have to hand it to all their AD's who were smart enough to know when to play North Texas and when not to play us. Tulsa and TCU are 2 such schools--there are others, of course. Can one only imagine how may more "W's" North Texas could have piled onto many of our all time series records versus many other schools if they had only scheduled us when we were up and they were down? It seems what we have rarely done at North Texas is learn from our past. We take 4 giant steps forward then 6 back. Darrell Dickey's bowl era would have been more significant for UNT and his future career at a higher level if we had only pulled a La Tech back then and just made a Top 25 poll even with "1" of those bowl teams. We did not and then the "go backwards" aspects of our program would begin its cycle again. Mo Green (D.Kalk) told me in the 80's that UNT never has the infra-structure in place to ever go to the next level. We now have the stadium, in the opinion of many the head football coach, but those 2 together are still not enough to advance North Texas and that's is all I'm going to say on the subject. Many of us have seen many schools go past North Texas the past 4 decades and they did it many times while we were operating in the mode such as we've been in the last 10 years or so years.. Whoops! I said I wasn't going to say anymore. GMG!

That which is highlighted in bold black large letter is typical of our mindset in Denton and UNT as in......"the war is over before the battles even been fought." And (again) just how far is DFW and Alliance Airports from the Denton County line? Has the county line been moved again? Here is link (at bottom of page) showcasing over 100,000 conferences, conventions, trade shows, exhibits, expos and seminars. Now if Denton had a director of marketing (there's that word again) in charge of such a unique hotel/conference center WITH adjacent 10,000 seat facility OR..........even a 31,000 seat stadium (remember when Promise Keepers were in Denton for a few days and put about 35,000 inside Fouts and on the football field, too?) and if Denton had a mover and shaker take such a job who wouldn't come up there and retire 25 years before his or her's official retirment age, couldn't one like that take a list (that took me about 3 minutes to google and find online) and find enough conventions to keep the Denton facility booked much of the year? Think about all the "Education and Academia" oriented conventions that might want a university setting rather than being bottle-necked by traffic in Grapevine? Also keep in mind that during football season and Game Days at UNT that they might have to avoid bookings unless (God forbid) a convention was booked and attendance of a North Texas football game at Apogee was part of that convention's timeline of events. Lets us not think too far out of the box up there lest our collegues might think we could be on the verge of rocking the boat. Link.....check out all of the different kinds of conventions in the link. http://www.allconferences.com/

Bottom line is that a UTSA'esque type of turnstiles success would solve about half of our problems at North Texas. Dr. Rawlins and the BOR's will need to eventually identify what the other problems are and act accordingly. Fact is, our school's name is never seriously mentioned with any conference expansion plans and that based on our continued failures to have over .500 W/L football season successes in Denton. http://mcubed.net/ncaaf/teams/nt.shtml Some call a school's overall athletic success as being the key for being positioned for advancement. Apparently doesn't take much of it, either, as La Tech was positioned for advancement based mostly on the success of their last 2 football seasons. Not that North Texas would actually move to another conference, but when your school's name is never being mentioned in a serious way and an upstart's name is might that alone prove that there really may be problems in River City (to quote Harold Hill)? Without a doubt, someone on high at UNT needs to see the problem identifying it without delay then do something about solving them; you know, like happens out in the real busines world where overall performance is key to sticking around for awhile? GMG!

The following full page shows how seroius UTSA is in marketing their football program. Below you will see a full marketing department staff & services found on their official athletic department website. _______________________________________________________________ Anyone else want to chance getting as blown away as I was after I finally got thru reading UTSA's entire page about their athletic marketing staff and all ancillary service groups under its banner? With their success at the turnstiles, didn't we all kinda' figure they might have a full marketing department? With our CUSA membership, is it finally time for UNT to get in the game? We can only hope. Anyone else want to make a small wager that this UTSA marketing staff has already begun marketing 2013 Game Days and ticket sales for Fall, 2013? http://www.goutsa.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13100&ATCLID=205499850 UTSA Athletics Marketing They can't do all this--can they? No 5 to 10 year plan? UTSA Athletics Marketing’s primary goal is to promote and increase support for all UTSA athletics programs and our student-athletes. The marketing focal point is on the development of sponsorships, programming and advertising opportunities that engage our teams, university and community; to promote the Roadrunners brand on campus; create a home-field advantage with an exciting yet respectful game day atmosphere; strive to maintain a positive public image and continue our work as the external affairs department to reach out to San Antonio as a whole and develop Roadrunners fans throughout the city and South Texas. Corporate, Community Relations, Marketing, Promotions & Ticketing Staff (Hide the razor blades, please) Name Position Phone (area code 210) Email Jim Goodman Associate AD/Marketing 458-5026 jim.goodman@utsa.edu Stephanie Hill Senior Marketing Associate 458-4182 stephanie.hill@utsa.edu Jason Gregory Spirit Coordinator 458-6662 jason.gregory@utsa.edu Sara Wright General Manager/ Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc. 458-6243 swright@nelligansports.com Kevin Kassian Sales & Marketing Coordinator/ Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc. 458-8035 kevin.kassian@utsa.edu Sam Planto Assistant/Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc. 458-8042 sam.planto@utsa.edu Brian Fox Assistant AD/Ticket Manager 458-8872 brian.fox@utsa.edu Charles Pettis Assistant Ticket Manager 458-6750 charles.pettis@utsa.edu Aaron Johnson General Manager/IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions 458-4188 aaron.johnson@utsa.edu Jon Blackwell IMG Learfield Sales 458-4164 jon.blackwell@utsa.edu Jeff Eisenbaum IMG Learfield Sales 458-8511 jonathan.garfunkel@utsa.edu Jonathan Garfunkel IMG Learfield Sales 458-8036 jonathan.garfunkel@utsa.edu Sammie Martinek IMG Learfield Sales 458-4646 samantha.nakama@utsa.edu Internship & volunteer opportunities UTSA offers a unique opportunity for interested, motivated people to work within its athletics department. Our Roadrunners Internship and Volunteer Program provides professionals and students with valuable experience that will benefit their pursuit of a career in almost any field. Our internship and volunteer opportunities are awarded to people with initiative, dedication, a strong work ethic and a sincere interest in UTSA Athletics. For available positions, contact Senior Marketing Associate Stephanie Hill atstephanie.hill@utsa.edu or (210) 458-4182 . Roadrunners Sports Network The Roadrunners Sports Network (RSN) works with Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc., the marketing and multimedia rights holder for UTSA Athletics, to ensure our sponsors and our fans are provided with a quality broadcast and fan experience with our various media platforms. RSN, in conjunction with Lone Star Productions, produced “UTSA Football, The Birth of a Program," a six-part episodic show that ran on FOX Sports (FS) Southwest. That collaboration is continuing with “UTSA Football Insider,” which will air on FS Southwest, along with other media outlets. For sponsorship opportunities for “UTSA Football Insider,” contact RSN Executive Director Jim Goodman at jim.goodman@utsa.edu or (210) 458-5026. Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc. Interested in becoming a sponsor of UTSA Athletics? When you join the Roadrunners team as a corporate sponsor, you become affiliated with a university as solid in its athletics as in its academics..............Tabbed as “the rising star of Texas,” UTSA is en route to becoming the nation’s next Tier One University. As an athletics sponsor, you have the ability to target specific groups and demographics, including a population of more than 30,000 students and 3,500 faculty and staff members, as well as plenty of loyal fans throughout the San Antonio area and the Lone Star State. By partnering with an athletics department committed to excellence, you can be assured that your sponsorship will effectively endorse, advertise and market your company not only locally, but also regionally and nationally. Known for its involvement in hosting NCAA Championship events, UTSA, along with San Antonio, has hosted three Men’s Final Fours, two Women’s Final Fours, a pair of Women's Volleyball Championships and a total of 14 NCAA Championship events since 1997. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for UTSA Athletics, contact Sara Wright at swright@nelligansports.com or (210) 458-6243. About Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc. UTSA has partnered with Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc. (NSM) to manage its exclusive athletics marketing rights. NSM provides sales and marketing expertise for sports properties worldwide. NSM is dedicated to building long-term relationships with clients through exceptional management of the properties represented and by maximizing growth through their corporate relationships. NSM’s high-level sales executives have a proven track record of exceptional revenue growth and management of the sports properties represented. How to become a UTSA Athletics corporate partner If you are interested in being a partner of UTSA Athletics and reaching the college sports demographic, please contact Sara Wright at swright@nelligansports.com or (210) 458-6243 to discuss the current opportunities available and a potential corporate sponsorship program. We customize every sponsorship to maximize your organization’s goals and objectives. UTSA Athletics offers a wide range of options to reach your market, including radio, signage, print, Internet and promotions. IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions IMG College and Learfield Sports have formed a joint venture providing colleges and universities nationwide an outsourced ticket sales solution designed to increase attendance and revenues generated from athletics events, as well as choice and convenience when fans purchase tickets. UTSA toppled South Florida’s start-up program inaugural game attendance record with 56,743 fans in the Alamodome on Sept. 3 and it was a larger crowd than several programs from Bowl Championship Series conferences. In fact, it ranked 23rd among all NCAA Division I schools on the opening weekend of play. The Roadrunners drew a total of 213,126 fans in their six home games for an average of 35,521 and that broke the previous NCAA start-up program record of 33,038 set by South Florida in 1997. IMG Learfield sold more than 10,000 group tickets for the 2011 season, which translated to more than $150,000 in revenue. UTSA has added more than 1,500 new season ticket holders for the 2012 season in addition to the 12,000 from its inaugural campaign. To date, IMG Learfield has generated more than $2.7 million in ticket sales to go along with $1.7 million in donations.

Have no idea of a timeline, but at some point I really do think ASU and ULaLa (or U of L) will be part of the new CUSA. I also think when that happens that the Sun Belt will have to hustle to stay in business. GMG!

KRAM1, help us out here, pal! 'Twill be a great addition in the Mean Green Village when complete, though. GMG!

ww, good post with a believable scenario. CUSA survives no matter what--we may not be the Big 12, but neither will the Big Least who will also never be confused for the B12, GMG!

LOL! (but not too loud lest the kids hear, right)? GMG!

Good one, Denny! But I do have a cute little female doctor and thanks for the reminder! (Can I say that here)? GMG! PS: I may be 62 yrs old but I ain't dead yet.

I got my first ever flu shot yesterday and even added a pneumonia shot, too; and this after visitng a friend at Weatherford Regional Hospital yesterday of which I had to wear a mask to even get in her room since she was infectious with both the flu and pneumonia, that is. Then I was told by the nurses "if you haven't had a flu shot---go get one now (it's not too late)." . * Heard on a WBAP yesterday that 37 U.S. states are now reporting high numbers of flu-like symptoms among their citizens. * In the 2003/2004 flu season approx. 40,000 in the USA died of the flu. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/01/08/chicago-area-hospitals-turning-away-patients-due-to-severe-flu-season/#ixzz2HU5wWYgE Addendum: I got my flu shot for $25 at a local Brookshires Grocery Store's pharmacy here in Weatherford. The pharmicist gives the shot. Both of Weatherford's Walgreens and CVS were out of flu shots but were due to get more of them in late yesterday.

Calling Gil Brandt! Calling Bil Brandt! You needed a better example, Gil, but I knew what you mean't. Anyhow, Arkstfan, join Larry, Emmy and Mr. Chompers on the same tour with Hank that inspired Gil Brandt to compare our stadium to a freakin' mausoleum.

SgtGoldenEagle Bench Warmer Posts: 231 Joined: Dec 2012 Reputation: 20 I Root For: Southern Miss Location: Mesa Az. From CUSAbbs Board Veteran USM alum SgtGoldenEagle responds to EagleRockCafe plus excerpts from his post. Post: #47 RE: If CUSA loses Tulsa, USM, and UTEP....... (Today 12:45 PM)EagleRockCafe Wrote: USM isn't going anywhere in my opinion. SgtGoldenEagle's Response: I agree. I see no use in making a move unless the SEC, or ACC should come calling and we all know that isn't going to happen, and jumping to the conference that comes from the ashes of the former Big East might prove to be just more cost than gain. Frankly, I like the looks of the C-USA alignment pretty much, with a renewal of a rivalry with La. Tech that has produced some outstanding games for USM, as well as the rivalry that is growing with UAB (if they would just learn to play other teams like they play USM) MTSU could turn up being a very big game each year, then add in teams like Marshall, Tulsa and the newer programs like, UTSA who I predict is going to be a fast riser, and even North Texas could be a powerful opponent since it appears they are now very serious about their program. I just don't see C-USA being that bad off. I actually think it is much stronger with the new line-up than it was when the conference first started, and I well remember those days, since I have followed USM football since Thad "Pie" Vann was the coach. I am going to be clear though, I will miss ECU very much, Memphis, I will miss only because it has been on our schedule since 1952 each year but 80, but most games were not that interesting. I do think MTSU will give us more competition and will prove to be a good rival. Tulane is tulane, what can I say. I remember going to a Tulane game in 1959 or 1960 and to this day I still remember the pity I had for them in that game because they were so outmanned. Tulane hasn't changed much in that time and other than a couple or so good years they have been little to get excited about. La. Tech will probably be a much tougher game and also has been an opponent of USM off and on since 1923, so no stranger to USM. I can't share the concern others have, although I see where they are coming from, but when C-USA started we had UAB, and South Florida that were new programs just starting their FBS level, and C-USA was often referred to as USM and the rest, but Louisville, ECU, and some others got better and the conference did ok.

Like Harry so eloquently posted last week in his epistle I wish every Gang of 5 president could read (with Harry refining some of it as to not focus on any one school or school's poster); but it would best serve all of the Gang of 5 to have some level of detente or even solidarity because the Big Boy Conferences will look for any excuse to cut us all out of any potential additional revenues we might get no matter what conference any of our schools are members of. Yes, it's about one upmanship always among our group, but as our late great friend and UNT alum Robert Wade Brown (Brown Foundation & Repairs) used to tell me and others at Dallas get-togethers....."we don't want to burn the barn down to kill the mouse." Constant in-fighting among the Gang of 5 would create that effect IMHO. IMO, the Gang of 5 need to (with great haste) get a very strong consultant or over-seer to lobby for us non-stop with the Big Boy powers that be. Don't know if Chuck Neinas would be interested because he's retirement age but someone of that level, prestige, apparent respect with the Big Boys and with the kind of talent that we would need. Would also need that person to not only lobby for the Gang of 5's hopeful additional TV revenues but to also lobby for an 8 or 16 team NCAA FBS play-off, too. I know--one dream at at time. GMG!

I don't think Denia ever had the numbers and influential types you'd find in Tulane's neighborhood but what the heck does it really matter now because we have a "Taj Mahal of a NCAA FBS college football stadium" (to quote Gil Brandt) that even has a larger seating capacity than Duke University's football venue. The privates (or the, uh, "royals") should have done all of us a big favor a long time ago and just form a conference that had private universities only. If that had happened might the Southwest Conference still be in business in some form or fashion (or would that be the present Big 12)? GMG!

All last nights game proved is that Texas A & M is the real NCAA N.C. 16 team play-off, anyone? And please, get the NCAA FBS level university presidents out of the NCAA conducting of business aspects, They are screwing up what used to be a pretty good product. GMG!

Tulane and their (sadly) gutted by Katrina Big Uneasy population (did the B.E. even check out NO's latest and real population numbers or just go by even more urban tales & past histories of which Private U's seem to still get much mileage) along with Tulane U's spanking new 25,000 seat stadium (is it 25K or 30K--let an awaiting nation sitting on the edge of their seats know, TU) and a 25K seat stadium (unwanted by TU's neighborhood); and and then you have all 500 (SMU's got em' beat on that one by about 4,500 which is most always reported as 18K) of the Green Wave fans to try to find places in that 25K NCAA FCS sized stadium--maybe all 500 of them get the indoor comfort of luxury suites? Yeah, right, another great choice by the Big Least who just seems to merely stick any school with a pulse and glorious past in their dream Gang of 5 conference puzzle and a league which for all practical purposes is still in failure to launch mode. The more I read and hear of some of these private university president standards and methods of operation the more unimpressed I am. Will these schools stay as loyal to the BIg East as they have CUSA will be the question of many or the first ice cube they see floating in the waters will they jump ship once again? I mean come on now, some of these schools leave an entire region for 2 other regions in 2 other time zones (western and eastern USA) to get away from Cooties-USA? Jeez, people, has Dr. Rawlins made sure our school has had its annual leprosy booster shots? Bloom where planted, North Texas, build it like our former conference mate Boise State built theirs and lets make good history now and in the future instead of living on athletic glories and history from close to 75 years ago like some private universities (especially one particular school in DFW) seem to always have to do to advance. For the love of God, sorry, I mean't the almighty dollar, do these schools have no shame in having to continually do that while living on past glories of which one non-faith based university here in the Metroplex that had the NCAA's first bonafide Death Penalty? Has any other NCAA school ever been so rewarded and genuflected to for being nothing more than common crooks and being that just to have winning football teams? GMG!

Again, only a theory and really one not worth dwelling on (and I won't) but for those of us on this board (including you, Phil) who have seen local NCAA conference re-alignment politics in action since the 70's still know to the person that this theory (as out there as it seems) is still one that could actually well be within the realm of possibility considering all the players in Dallas' past attitudes toward UNT. Theory or not, it's not going change anything for North Texas whose upside here in the enormous DFW market is almost at the scary level, but who will take us to that level? UNT will still have to put our faces to the wind and do whatever we can do on our own because we are not going to get help in high NCAA places. Seems Boise State did just that and now look at them? Hell, they've become the Texas of the MWC demanding all those TV extras (while getting them) and every bit of that at the expense of many MWC schools who have been around for awhile who will be the ones taking the financial hit. Looking back you'd think at times we have all but worked overtime trying to not be successful up there with our past leaders unbelievable chain of terrifically bad hires as the culprits in this. And I look at newer generations now posting on this forum who have never seen a UNT HFC who left Denton above .500 in wins/losses who it seems many times keeps supporting such mediocrity because (quite frankly) that is all they've known or have ever seen. . Even as I look at our recruitment of QB's the last 40 or so years, you'd think that we could have accidently every once in a while recruited a Terry Bradshaw, a Drew Bries and others similar who fell thru the cracks of not being recruited and just falling in our laps, but that has not happened in Denton. Then you have schools from Lousiana who seem to have no problem recruiting QB's who can make a real difference in a game; such as ULM's Bubbie Brister, Stan Humphries both of whom played in the NFL and now ULM's Kolton Browning of late. They say you make your own luck but sometimes you just need to get lucky and recruit a kid who literally exceeds all expectation going beond the realm and almost single-handedly taking a footballl program to unexpected levels. This school has been doing it lately on a shoestring budget BUT....$400,000 more revenue than who? And could that possibly be true? If so....well.... (Read the entire link below to see). http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2012/9/25/3386352/louisiana-monroe-football-2012 GMG!

You Just Cannot Make This Stuff Up (unless it involves UNT and another local university)! I may now smell a skunk located right here in the Metroplex in some of this and his even possibly saying to the Big East Commish': "Get all the rest of the established schools in CUSA and make those Sun Belt'ers think twice about their thinking they've moved up the NCAA totem pole by our having left CUSA and they coming into CUSA to take our place." Come on people, anyone think the Big East Commish could possibly be getting some extremely "helpful" tips from down Texas way to keep his conference together so a whole slew of schools who've already left CUSA don't get more egg on their faces as they have thus far with their "maybe not such a smart decision on our part" to have moved in the first place? So now as of today we are seeing the balance of CUSA's present membership (before expansion) with TV market or even with no TV market being mentioned for the new Big East; you know as in Rice U, USM, and now Tulsa? No one else curious about this new scenario at all? Oh yes, I'm sure I am completely over-reacting like many of us did last time North Texas wanted in CUSA and we were cold cocked by said local private university who preferred La Tech instead and stated as such in the DMN. If CUSA loses Rice U, we are literally back to square one, folks. And yes, I know, we will find a way to spin it positive if all this materializes and if any of this (yes, I know) wild arsed theory actually comes to fruition, but I remember last time UNT wanted in CUSA and how one particular area university president touted La Tech to the Dallas Morning News as if they were the 2'nd coming of Notre Dame while............. NOT MENTIONING OUR SCHOOL'S NAME ONE FREAKIN' TIME?!?!?!? I would really hate if this is coming down like this but Metroplex college athletics history suggests that it very well could be within the realm of possibility. So what the heck, I think I'm going to drive down to New Orleans (I don't fly) and have one of the locals there cast a black magic spell on a particular school in Dallas,Texas, America, who some of you still amazingly want to smoke the peace pipe with in spite of their continually (and historically) being a turd in our Mean Green punch bowl. I still hope the City of Dallas will keep on showing said school just how grossly un-interested they still are with anything they do athletically and they finally wave the white flag and drop down to intramural flag football status. (I only kid about the spell casting part from the BIg Easy, of course). Still not saying that's totally what's happening here (and it is almost ridiculous to even post it here), but from past local college football history anybody know anyone here in the "D"FW Metroplex who would be capable of saying and doing such? Of course denials would be non-stop if what is slowly but surely happening here actually fell in place as described in this post, but some people out there just do their best work behind the backs of others, that's all. Sometimes they even bring a knife to insert after they've done their dirty work. Again, just a theory, but maybe the Big East commish' is getting some ideas from some down here in the Southwest and from one in particular who does not seem to be a fan of the UNT System. And no, I don't think others were involved in the assassination of JFK, either. GMG!

Oh, I don't think so. UTEP's president is on record saying she wants the El Paso school with a Texas presence that CUSA gives them so you've just lost 1 Texas school in your version of the MWC, shaft. And in my "projection" of this (and that is all that it is for most of us on forums such as this) I prefer to compare CUSA travel with MWC travel. The Big East appears to many media types to not be a long term keeper and Boise just days ago fired the first major shot heard 'round the NCAA making that an extreme possibility. I think SMU and UH are spending most of their spare time of late wiping egg off their respective faces while trying to save face with their own quick decisions based on mostly fiction (as far as a Big East TV package is concerened). Read one outlet that said Tulane has not officially accepted (and signed a contract) with the Big East as of yet and still has time to think it over. It will be interesting if Tulane chooses not to go Big East. Again, merely speculation on my part on a subject that is drawing much speculation from many national media outlets and college forums such as this one but complete contradictory non-sense(?) are some pretty strong words, shaft. GMG!

The MWC late night games that would have been played in Texas and its Central Standard Time the revenues would I'm sure be greatly reduced due to late kick-off timelines. TCU fans had a very frustating time with that even though their schedules were accomodated to some extent for some of the Frogs home games, but there were still those late night games for TCU's MWC road games. I remember listening to some of those on WBAP. State of Texas public universities in CUSA will all have a difficult time leaving the more regionalized CUSA due to budgetary concerns by their respective presidents, each school's BOR's and the Texas legilslature. Cut backs in Texas public universities due to our national economic disaster would make selling a conference move to another region and time zone of the USA almost next to impossible. If the TV revenues are close to the same (and right now CUSA is larger than the MWC), why would anyone leave their present situation never-minding campus and Austin-based politics? The MWC gets Boise, maybe BYU and possibly even San Diego State U back in the fold, but the population advantage that CUSA clearly has will IMHO still trump any differences those 3 MWC re-additions would produce. PLUS...those 3 will no doubt get MWC TV revenue extras (much like UT-Austin was given to stay in the Big 12); but at the same time, leaving the rest of the schools in the MWC with lesser TV revenues. Not exactly a great bargaining tool for any Texas-based school to leave CUSA most would agree. SMU and UH would likely join the MWC when the Big East finally implodes this year or the next or even the next but would still be making less TV revenue than the conference (CUSA) they are leaving to ultimately end up in the MWC; and at the same tiime adding exhorbitant travel costs to tour the western part of the USA for both of their school's men and women's varsity sports teams. SMU and UH are almost out of options altogether because they simply cannot find enough schools among the Gang of 5 that they want to be associated with. GMG!

The Now Defunct Southwest Conference: The future MWC I think would end up being like the old Southwest Conference and as Frank Broyles described it in an old Dallas Times-Herald article I remember reading whiile eating a club sandwhich in a west Fort Worth El Fenix (not sure why I had to add that but at age 62 I have every right to ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble,............ but in that Times-Herald article I remember AD Frank Broyles saying this; "You have 2 rivalries in the SWC: UT and Arkansas versus................... everybody else." Broyles then added how the SWC private schools only drew good crowds when the big state schools came to their campus stadiums and that they had quit drawing good crowds among each other long ago; that is, once the Cowboys came to Dallas and the Oilers to Houston. Many of us who followed college football back then saw all this happen as it all unfurled before our eyes in our state and region. Meanwhile, North Texas plodded along like a plow mule as we continued being in far flung conferences with no in-state conference rivals; that is, at an NCAA FBS level. ______________________________________ The MWC versus CUSA The MWC could very well have the same scenario as the now defunct SWC did especially if BYU comes back to the MWC but then it would probably be: You'd have 2 rivalries in the MWC: Boise and BYU versus.........everybody else. Most every school in the Gang of 5 (except maybe the MAC schools) are almost like Homer's Odysseus with the very tempting Songs of the Sirens, ie, the female creatures from greek mythology, who attracted sailors with their chants. They had to turn a deaf ear to their female temptors (or rather put wax in their ears) to avoid potential disaster. How many schools are inviting potential disaster today because they cannot refuse the $ong of the $iren$? Still, few among our Gang of 5 can resist the temptations once another conference (perceived to be a cut above) starts throwing all those endless bouquets of nice words toward said school. Hey, it's difficult to throw cold water on those saying nice things about you, now isn't it? I (like I know many of you) have vascillated on the MWC versus the CUSA as far as our school is concerned and only thought the MWC would be right for North Texasa if 3 Texas schools plus (maybe) Tulsa came along for the ride; but upon further review, I now hope that all now in CUSA would all hang in there together and just resist the songs of the Gang of 5 Sirens A major reason for that is I think it highly probable that future CUSA TV packages will trump any future MWC TV package even with Boise and BYU in their league and I base that (admittedly as a novice) solely based on where the population of the USA will be compared to the moutain west region. AND...if BYU and San Diego State rejoin Boise they will all 3 undoubtedly get higher cuts of the TV action over the balance of the MWC. How many schools from CUSA would really want to play an (insulting) lesser paid role as that? GMG!

If one would have told me we would walk in the wilderness as long as we have post 1978 season, ie, our 4'th winning season in a row at the time with several wins the previous 5 seasons to 1978 over some rather impressive name NCAA FBS level schools; anyhow, if one would have told me about such a future wildnerness walk for North Texas I would have told them back then...... "what you talking about boy" we are on our way up the NCAA totem pole. And yes,.oldguystudent, I am getting older, crustier, and rougher around the edges. I do like what I think is a move in the right direction now with a long over-due new football stadium in place that with another 10K to 15K additional seats few of the Big Boys could match with their much Older Lady football venues. We seem to have a slow yet we all hope is a steady upwardly bound program with Coach McCarney, but good golly Miss Molly, my entire adult life flew by me like a Boeing 747 jumbo jet following all this. Young Gun Alums, you, too, will be shocked by how fast it all goes by. Free advice here: Keep your main lifes priorities in check and always try to remember that all this Mean Green business is still the toy section of most all our department stores that we call life. When it becomes more than that you might only start experiencing major disappointment. I (as most of you older alums) merely wanted North Texas to be better positioned than we are here in 2013 with yearly increased attendance numbers commensurate with all our UNT constiuenices across the board growth, but we are not there yet and I have stated several opinions why on this board and got red numbers for doing so, but I will always say how I feel....just like most seem to do on these kind of forums. CUSA? I have praised La Tech's recent successes but in many ways after looking at their last 30 years of football wins/losses, they have been on their own roller coaster ride. Still....I am not quite sure why they got the CUSA call over the U of L Rajun Cajuns as I compare both programs. I honestly think Terry Bradshaw sat in Commish Banowsky's office till he got a yes concerning his alma mater. I said the same about ESPN's Craig James doing the same with Big East officials when that league was more relevant. To me, North Texas has rarely used our power hitters enough to help us in similar areas but that is just another opinion.. And yes, La Tech'sters, I know UNT was invited mostly because of location and hardly because of our records of the last umpteen years but we'll take it anyway--we needed Lady Luck to smile on us at some point and still do; after all, another local school got a CUSA invite many years ago with an 18 football season losing streak and, GrayEagle, I will not mention any names. The future of the Gang of 5? Harry wrote a masterful epistle on what all our schools need to do as one unified group, but I fear there is still too much "me, me, me" going on and conference social climbing that will continue among some of our 5 unique conferences and prevent it from happening. When there is too much of that "me, me, me" involved in most anything, you will rarely find unity of a common cause and teamwork which Harry said we should all try for a change even for political purposes with the Big Boys. . Early Christmas Wish List Item #1: I wish every Gang of 5 conference school president could get a copy of Harry's epistle because I really do think it is a read that makes very much sense, but we know that the "makes very much sense" part could be its demise in today's NCAA. GMG!

* UNT once hosted the Texas A & M Aggies in Texas Stadium before approx. 50,000 fans. * UNT travelled 20,000 fans down to UT-Austin to play the Longhorns back in the day * On a Tuesday night North Texas had 17,000 traveling fans make the trip to the Big Easy for a NO's Bowl game. It will be simply amazing what a winning football program will allow us to do once again, but this time around each of our UNT constituencies, ie, our main campus enrollment, DFW alums, Denton/Denton County populations, etc, are all very much larger. GMG!

I get goose bumps on top of goose bumps when i feel I have just read what I feel to be pure unadulterated truth. One of the best post I've ever read on this or any other message board, Harry, and you are the one who dun' it! GMG!

Future Attendance at North Texas? Nothing short of phenomenal once we start winning again. Hellsbells, folks! Some of us over 30 years ago saw UNT draw right at 20,000 in our former 20K seat stadium versus some school called Cal Poly-Pomona. Main Key For That To Have Happened? We had a winning football team--what a concept, eh?!?!?! North Texas' large TV market upside and enormous Metroplex UNT constituency from which to draw new fans is still a major plus for us. In sales we always heard "it's a numbers game"; well, UNT's numbers will be our biggest ally when we start putting a string of winning seasons together again. Still....it sounds like it was a tough decision for the Coach Riddle to leave Denton, though; and as I originally thought that it might be because of a connection that he had at ASU. From Vito's Blog linked at bottom: Riddle struggled with the decision a bit, but the bottom line was that he is getting a chance to be an assistant head coach with a good friend in Bryan Harsin and advance his career. Coaches don’t say no in situations like that. "The hard part was leaving UNT, which Riddle believes is about ready to take off under Dan McCarney. “The best aspect of it is this isn’t a situation where I am leaving a place where things are not going well,” Riddle said. “North Texas will blow up and become a great success story under coach McCarney.” Source: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/