PlummMeanGreen

TSU-SM was counting on being in CUSA with North Texas because it would have warp speeded them to the same level that it has taken us more than half a century to get to with some of the crowd we have wanted to be part of since the days we applied for Southwest Conference membership, circa 1975. TSU-SM I fear will be the new North Texas trying to get into a league where they are (presently) unwanted and if anyone knows how that feels it is those of us from the University of North Texas. I'm sorry for TSU-SM, but this a a torch that we of UNT will gladly pass onto them to hold onto for probably what will be a long time. In an indirect way, this CUSA invite will ultimately help North Texas get closer to our Tier 1 research university status and ranking because of increased interest among our donors in the state of Texas and to an extent because of these 2: (1) Potential donors will get to see more of our product state-wide thus creating more interest in our school from alums who've been long dormant (2) Potential donors will be impressed with the schools we will now have coming into Apogee Stadium. No disrespect to UL-Monroe, but a North Texas vs Tulane matchup will do more for our school than a North Texas vs ULM matchup could ever do. GMG!

One of the best percs as far as North Texas will be concerned is how all our various alumnus groups and organizations in Houston, El Paso and San Antonio will have dramatically increased numbers from those 2 cities getting involved. GMG!

Not saying you're wrong, GrandGreen, but is there a link to prove that TSU-San Marcos has passed us academically? Anyone know how TSU-San Marocs graduate school programs ranks with North Texas? GMG!

Let all of CUSA, specifically those of us in Texas look at it this way: With 4 CUSA schools in Texas we significantly better ourselves to get more media coverage because 4 beats 1. And can we of UNT ever forget how "1" was the loneliest number we'd ever seen as in......North Texas was the "ONLY" SBC school from Texas. Last count, CUSA will have twice as many Texas-based schools in the Lone Star State than the other 2 schools from Texas who are going to the Big East. With 4 CUSA Texas schools I think would continue to give CUSA Commish' Banowsky a better position in which to bargain locally and state-wide, and toward the top of the bargaining list TV execs who would advertise with CUSA and that would also help with all the non-Texas schools, too. GMG!.

I did too...is there a link that says UTEP is definitley not going to the MWC? GMG!

Interesting... Prophetic? GMG!

Back to the MTSU president.....anyone else smell a bloot-letting coming soon in Murfreesboro? Man! I'd hate to be in his shoes. They still need to change their name to U of MT, though. GMG!

As an all events DJ who stays busy most Saturdays, I wholeheartedly concur with the Tuesday night game. As most on this forum know, that game will be on ESPN and U.S. sports fans will get its first televised views and impressions of Apogee Stadium and the Mean Green Village. We should not disappoint those viewers but pull out all the stops with every kind of promotion that will get all ages out for that game and even on a school night. GMG!

I think that all those schools who will apparently join us in this expansion know they are behind North Texas in the facilities arms race, but we don't need to go into a 15 year funk of not improving or adding to what we have. Seems an indoor practice facility would be toward the top of the list of our next project and of course, a men's varsity baseball stadium which I think will happen sooner than later. North Texas officials need to also work on a viable plan of gettting 31,000 fans out for each game out of a metro population center of almost 7,000,000 citizens and hire the right additional ancillary staff who can and will make this happen. Our UNT constituency coupled with the the DFW Metroplex population numbers should make this more than do-able. GMG!

Harry, I think UTSA will be a good addition, but for the rest of our schools who have gone thru well over a half century of the NCAA version of a quasi baptism of fire and much frustrasion in that timelime, its' just they got into this thing way too easy. Merry Christmas, UTSA? Still, this is more about a a great, historic Texas destination city of whom most of us know what parts of SA to visit to make that so and a possible CUSA bowl tie in the AlamoDome (even a 2'nd bowl game a la NO's Bowl) because outside their "dome" home, UTSA's athletic facilities are not even of the FCS Southland Conference standards. The UTSA thing will grow in popularity once all the dust settles is many of our predictions. GMG! PS: Trying to figure out how to put a new avatar on my avatar spot. Much different process than before.

Harry, might some of those possible turnovers be heading to Austin? They'd have to be pretty good to follow their coach down there to that well established women's BB program. GMG!

IMHO, this is not about UTSA, but rather the San Antonio market and most likely a bowl game for CUSA in the Alamodome; that is, maybe a 2'nd bowl game in San Antonio (a la NO's Bowl) if the Alamodome bowl officilals don't want to immediately work with the Alliance. SMU and North Texas garnered much interest for many of the same reasons as UTSA, but UTSA's road would have been dramatically easier if invited. Yet if UTSA is invited, its because CUSA needs its TV market and bowl game much more than the school at this point in time. If invited, CUSA (or maybe even the MWC) will hope for UTSA to be the USF of the Lone Star State and develop a football program with warp speed. Just sayin'... PS: Nice make-over of GMG.com, Harry & Company. (Is it possible to make the edit line correction notice with much smaller letters, though)? GMG ! !

Any one else had the thought run across their mind that if the Big East loses their guarantees that there may be a few schools wanting to bail out of all that and come back to their former regional conference homes? Harry (or anyone) how many openings would there be for that if it were to happen once this first group of schools come into the Alliance in what some think will be an announcement for that in less than a week now? GMG!

Somehow, Jack, I feel that the MWC Commish (Thompson) has at this point trumped CUSA Commish' Banowsky with all this "Alliance" talk (facade?) business. Hope I am wrong and that we are talking more a blended schedule and league, but I think the Alliance was a Thompson brainchild of an idea created out of initial panic until he could get his conference solid again. Seems he has succeeded thus far. I personnally am not happy about CUSA losing a Texas school to his league at all...... if that is the case. GMG! GMG!

And if the Big East is not compensated as a future AQ or whatever it will be called then a lot of schools have been purchasing Samsonites non stop for no real reason or purpose at all and for all practical purposes....are back at the same level as the MWC and CUSA and ...North Texas Stay tuned...there is more to come from the Big Boys on all this. GMG!

Sounds like a plan to me, but Rice U has that SWC background and city of Houston. We have a bit more to over-come to get similar schools up to Denton and Apogee Stadium. What CUSA will do immediately for us once in is give us a great conference home and home with schools that Denton & Denton County Newcomers will have heard about. I'd love to know how many DFW alums La Tech, Tulane, Rice and Tulsa have; also all the other CUSA school in the East division, too. Wouldn't it be great to see UNT schedule Iowa State, TCU, Baylor and even Iowa of the Big 10 at Apogee Stadium (among others)? . Like sales, you just have to ask them with the worse thing any of the schools like that can tell you is....no. GMG!

And just how many years did many of you I know on this board and beyond want out of the SBC because of all those start-ups? Honest to goodness, though, the SBC was a great place for us, the 4 bowl games UNT went to were a priceless national P.R. coup for our school, but the 'Belt (IMHO) is still years away from getting enough national media respect to get any of their schools a Top 25 ranking; even more than just a vote or 2. We are leaving many good friends behind from the SBC and I know many of us will miss a handful of their schools. And yes, CUSA may not be a regular in the Top 25, either, but at least it has had several schools in it thru the years so that cycle has been broken. How about when we play a ranked Alliance school in Denton bringing in a great home crowd and a chance to beat a ranked team at home. ???????????? Know the last time North Texas had a ranked NCAA D1 team on our campus? It was in 1974 when the Mean Green beat the #19 ranked San Diego State Aztecs. Their coach was so mad after that loss he almost kicked the visitors locker room water cooler onto Interstate 35-E destroying it at the same time. Of course. North Texas "AD" Hayden Fry sent SDSU a bill for that water cooler). GMG!

And a 4 team play-off is such a trail-blazer of an idea? That's it! I'm getting my three 8 year old great-nephews and two 10 yo. great nieces in a room and let them come up with something new, unique and......much better. Same song--different greedy verse, folks. They are trying to take the Cinderellas out of any future play-off bowl considerations or equations. Are these upper tier schools so broke that they want all the money because this is all about money and everyone knows it if they are trying to hide that fact. Next step will be they will leave the NCAA and go rogue leaving them free to do anything they damn well please. Come on Congress, this is one time we do want you to step right in the middle of something (and not fall back in it). GMG!

So UTEP are telling all their urban alums in the Greater Houston and North Texas Metroplex....up yours? Why the "get our old rivals back in football" talk if you were losing to those rivals most of the time as it stands? OK, maybe good for baskeball but UTEP has once again removed themselves from the Alliance's largest state footprint save California. Did they recruit the state of California that effectively anyhow? Maybe tomorrow they will change their minds because (after all) it's the NCAA's of the 2,000's where it seems everyone wants to be where they presently ain't. GMG!

Not that it really matters now since we are within a gnat's whisker of a CUSA invite, but not quite sure how or why Charlotte (with no FBS football) would be at the top of this probability list. An Epistle: Outside of how most of the E. Carolina fans would feel, Charlotte (and Old Dominion for that matter) are still not even a blip on the main geographical footprint of CUSA (central & deep south USA); of course, they'll say the same about North Texas but only the brain dead of CUSA who can't see beyond the past 10 years of NCAA inter-collegiate competition would have no idea that we actuallly have a longer history (legacy , if you will) in NCAA D1 than anyone they have on any of their lists plus.....with some wins against some schools even a few from CUSA still cannot get on their schedules (beginning with the school down in Austin, Texas, of which our first game with them should have been a win and even one in Knoxvile, Tennessee (which was a Mean Green win & still without doubt our greatest all time win since the SEC Vols were 6 & 5 that season). Will be glad when all this is over for darn sure and am still not certain why its been dragged out this long. I think we all know North Texas is going to have to immediately up its game plan in this league and cannot go into a SBC-esque funk. I really believe there will be those in the upper echelon and offices of CUSA who not only need UNT as its largest TV market entry to compete but to actually start getting some ranked teams in the Top 25 polls. In other words, our business as usual era needs to go the way of the dinosaur. Just sayin' what most every one of you on this or any other North Texas oriented forum know is the truth. I told Rick Villarreal 7 or 8 years ago at a hot weather Mean Green Village tail-gate at the old stadium that he really had the worst AD job in the NCAA because we the alums and fans of North Texas can be like a bunch of old sewing bee LOL's (little ol' ladies) and are almost never satisfied. We can be critical on this forum (and even with each other) albeit I like to think some of what is construed as being critical could many times fall in the "constructive critism" department. Bottom Line: All of us want what is good for the University of North Texas. Are We of GMG.com Really the Waltons of TV Fame? In many ways we are kinda' like a family of 10 at the evening dinner table (an in the past American tradition, unfortunately) with each of our siblings trying to get a word in edge-wise while throwing a few dinner rolls at each other from time to time when the folks aren't watching but...if ever there was a time for all of our UNT alums, Mean Green fans, UNT students, the UNT faculty and our entire UNT constituency to pull together I believe we'd all agree that that time would be now. This expected-to-happen CUSA venture will easily be the greatest challenge on the fields and courts of battle in the history of the University of North Texas. In every way that each of us can donation-wise spanning from those who might have the equivalence of the widow's mite to you who have been very ble$ed financially, we should all up our game, too, even if not a monetary gift making one's self available for voluntary service projects as deemed necessary by the UNT Athletic Department. NOTE: But as we volunteer our services, lets not be like the Boy Scout who wants to help the Little Ol Lady across the street who doesn't want to go across the street. Let North Texas decide the project(s) and what they need any volunteers (if any) to do in other words. Ask Not What UNT Can Do For You--But Ask What You (We) Can Do For UNT: My DJ business is pretty stable and busy (and I have 2 other DJ's who work for me because of it), but for any DJ gig I book from any GMG.com member I will still give a nice percentage back to North Texas Athletics with even the GMG.com member, ie, my client writing that check donation back to the UNT Athletic Department with a "compliments of SoundworkS Productions and "said client's" name on the lower left bottom line of the check. You will get the donation credit--UNT will get the donation. OK...shameless plug time and a way you can get in touch to get an event quote, too..... www.soundworksdeejay.com My DJ business for all practical purposes is my 401K just like what many of you will be saying about your own business you have now or will create near or post retirement age for those who have to stay active doing something (like myself). It beats sitting around drawing SSI checks (mine start this November) and wiping drivel from one's bib as you sit in a rocking chair talking about the good ol days. Good Times Ahead--These "ARE" The Good Ol Days ! GMG!f

"Bad data..." "To err is human." GMG!

....................YES! Almost Done Now... What the heck: CELEBRATE! GMG!

I can think of some on this board (and I'm sure you could with yours, too, D.F,M.) who have even lost a few years--all most definitely for a good cause, of course. Most of us would agree that satisfaction is seeing one's alma mater reach a plateau worthy of what one feels is suffice for his/her school; getting those facilities it can be proud of; and then win games (hopefully) on a regular basis with even a few of those "W's" against those that gets the undivided attention of the entire American sports world. Have no idea what it is about all the aforementioned either, but colllectively they seem to have many of us locked into our respective alma maters almost as if it were an addiction. I think many of us believe our 2 schools would have a marvelous rivalry of which many from both schools would give much credit for that because of 2 college message boards, namely......BB&B and GMG.com For sure UNT and La Tech have had its differences in all this that some call the toy section of the department store of life....but still....good luck to your school on Announcement Day, D.F.M. and your fellow alums/fans of Louisiana Tech U...................and that means you, too, HogDawg!

Absolute, genius... Deep down, I like....... Hip(ity) Hop(pity). (Hellsbells, I play Cupid Shuffle and Cha Cha Slide at most every event I DJ & both fill the dance floor). GMG!

TXST_CAT,....some of us who've been around maybe before you were even born know exactly where you are coming from and some of us have expressed almost the exact very things you are saying in your post well over 30-35 years ago now. In the 70's, Fry had some great teams but no one in Texas knew it because UT AD Darrell Royal was about the only one who would schedule us and first game with the Horns we almost won. SMU scheduled us in 1977 and got beat. TCU would never play a Hayden Fry-coached team and all in the DFW Metroplex knew why, but this is the way of the Texas D1- pecking order. UNT could not change that pecking order no matter how hard we tried nor will your school. Expect this once your school moves up to the FBS; that is, when you think your team can beat anybody but the problem will be that anybody just won't schedule your team. UNT has been there--done it all and have seen it all. Your journey (if you make it to the Sun Belt) will have been much easier than the one many of us on this board witnessed going back almost to the North Texas Abner Haynes' Sun Bowl team of the late 50's. Yet at this moment in time of our own NCAA D1 athletic journey (save 12 humiliating years in NCAA 1-AA) this is a torch we of North Texas will gladly pass onto Texas State-San Marcos because quite frankly......North Texas is long over-due in removing this torch from the deepest, darkest crevices of our derrier. UNT has had to endure much of what we've done athletically in Texas all on our own without the encouragement or assistance of any other Texas D-1 (FBS) universities. We'd also try to shame them in to playing us with no success. We tried to tell them "but we would be make such good rivals" to no avail since it takes 2 to tango while it also takes 2 to be......a rivalry.. Yet in spite of it all, we've had some high times-we've had some low times. Enjoy your journey. GMG!