PlummMeanGreen

Harry, I told you from Day 1 when this Alliance talk first began that we were screwed; that is, it would give this Alliance an out or an excuse not to expand with any school immediately. Long term, I don't think another WAC 16 type league will work no matter how some of the Alliance posters say it will. The odd thing about all this is how "the Big TV market schools" (mostly , uh......us?) have all but become the villain and that (of course) among the small market schools which constitutes most of CUSA now; but lest we forget, this theme is still coming from smack board posters who have no idea how all the MWC and CUSA presidents are seeing this and how it affects their own decison-making skills longterm. . La Tech is hoping above all hope that all the USM posters of whom Dwayne of Minden has probably paid off and that to always sneak in the Ruston-based school's name in most all these "projected" smack board cookie cutter conference threads has some kind of pay-off down the road, but why any league would want a school with a $15 million athletic budget of which their HFC almost gets 1/15'th of that budget alone beats me. PLUS.....a school with an endzone stadium expansion plans which begs the question...... "is that all you have with this patchwork quilt add-on to a 1960'esque style football stadium of which you've raised so little monies for as it is? And which conference is it that you say your school is such a natural fit to be in again now? When the WAC implodes, La Tech has no place else to go so I think they are letting out all the stops in trying to get in CUSA now. If they get in, that means they've been quietly politickin' CUSA all the time with success and that another school near and dear to us all has not. God help those at North Texas if this La Tech expansion into CUSA scenario is successful. It will get pretty ugly fast. GMG! PS: Why is my computer so slow on GMG.com when it isn't on other boards?

Well, if the USF of the Lone Star State develops a football team, they are building the kind of home schedule that if you win at home a school can start getting Top 25 consideration or rankings while North Texas finds every excuse under the sun as to why our 100 year plan for success is so much the better; plus another previous game plan for success for UNT was when we had a former AD who told a fellow alum and myself why the Big West Conference would be so much better a league for UNT to be in than the league that would become CUSA . "We have met the enemy and the enemy is..... who the hell we've been hiring up there for most of the last 30 years. So go ahead, drink your green koolade but it's the damn truth and most our former HFC careeer w/l records of most every varsity coach we've had up there the last 30 years is the proof in the pudding. By the way, many athletic employees that that former UNT AD I mention in the above paragraph hired are still on the UNT payroll today after all these "suceessful" years later since he's been gone, too. What a helluva' peachy job to work in the safe confines and comfort zone of the North Texas athletic departmet where the more successful NCAA FBS schools are hardly coming to Denton by the droves to hire all our success stories away from us. I was a doubter before, but I now congratulate UTSA on their success and being a model for other schools who could also say "why not us" as part of their mission statement for their next 100 year plan. Moral of Story: North Texas has too much going for it "location-wise and constituency-wise" to keep standing still and to allow Sun Belt Conference "so-called" standards of excellance to continue to be our own. Just sayin' what many of our elect are still silently keeping to themselves. GMG!

Would probably have to transcend those 2 D's. Denton County is probably the key to our alma mater's ultimate athletic success and probably always has been. The sooner our campus leaders understand this and do something proactive about it the further ahead Mean Green athletics will be across the board. Just sayin' how I know many others think on this subject. GMG!

Harry, you're on a roll and why not get the Denton County-based Texas Motor Speedway's Bruton Smith involved with this Apogee-based bowl or better yet.... how's about our fellow North Texas alum (?) who is CEO of Inter-State Batteries or .....both of them? GMG! PS: There are just some things North Texas is going to have to do to let NCAA powers know we are not brain-dead or oblivious to things that take place outside our little comfort zone known as Denton,Texas. Not every non AQ school has the market or alums to make this work, but we sure as hell do yet someone on campus has to take the ball and run with it. Does North Texas ever use the list in the link below of invaluable North Texas Exes many of whom yield much power and influence? This newer list of our rich and famous is almost unbelievable and most impressive to say the least. One on the list even sang the national anthem at Apogee Stadium's debut game. http://en.wikipedia....th_Texas_alumni

Except on some of these conference boards they do put photos of half nekid' girls on their threads/posts so it is difficult to ignore posts that you are even not interested in. So to quote Rosanne-Adana: "It's always somethin'." ...but I do agree, Harry.

Probably not, but this new coach from the standpoint that we do play this new coach's team at Apogee this next Fall. GMG!!

AMEN! Finally, someone from another era other than the Fry Era has spoken out on this subject that some on this very board have said that such an SMU scenario toward North Texas did not exist and the one who has spoken out just happens to be: Harry! Great Post! PS: We'd love to have Chase but he's not the only fish in the pond, folks.

Also, who you have as your OOC marquee team at home games gives one a hint on if we're going back to our multi-decades...3 giant steps forward--4 giant steps backwards M.O. North Texas powers must look beyond themselves, look beyond Denton, look beyond their egos, look beyond heir high fiving the existance of Apogee Stadium for the next 10 years while during our celebration other UTSA's pass us. The UNT president, the UNT BOR's and athletic leaders just need to sit down, dentify our problems and then solve those problems which may forever keep us from moving upward to any new conference. Seems of late we've not been too successful in the one we're in already--hint, hint. I think we have missed the conference re-alignment boat this time around, too. Hell, La Tech may even be ahead of us for all we know. Can you only imagine the blood bath on the North Texas campus if La Tech got the CUSA nod over North Texas? I would not want to be an employee at UNT if that were to occur, but the way the NCAA conference presidents think--anything is possible. Casepoint: SMU's invite to the Big East w/o Big East officials even spending one minute checking out the 'Stangs true attendance numbers. When SMU has a home game with UConn, they will see for themselves. Yet if North Texas had had even a half an across the board of a semi-successful football program the last 10 years CUSA or the MWC would be knocking on our front doors today IMO--but I don't see it happening because those people also see North Texas propensity to seem to always make a few steps forward then in lock-step our going backwards and back toward the womb, athletically speaking. We really do need some friends in high places that North Texas leaders would have cultivated the last 10 years. Hope they are there for all concerned.

Click "WAC" and then click one of their new Texas additions (Home of the River Walk) and then check out their 2013 home schedule. Simply unbelievable. And Texas Southern is the best we can do at North Texas, ie our school who has only been playing football since the early 1900's? I know we have a killer 2012 OOC schedule beginning with (probably) this year's NCAA football champion and TSU will be a welcome (probable) win and we always need to have some of those kind of games at home, but not as Apogee Stadium's OOC marquee home game for heaven's sake.......still.... we have this new "world class opera hall" that deserves some of the best and more known visiting musicians in the USA--not Elmer Knows-Picker & The Gooey Brown-Tones. But it's really not so bad a dig to invite some more known teams & their fans to Experience Apogee, too, as seen in this link: http://www.youtube.c...player_embedded Just sayin' what others are thinkin' but just not postin'.... We have at North Texas what we have most all approved and that approval marked by decades of silence from us--the alums and fans of Mean Green football. GMG! PS: Put This Scheduling M.O. In The Mean Green Football Scheduling By-Laws? Before we play our traditional season opening killer schedule in 2012 and most times on the road, is there any way possible we can get a home game to "always" be our season opener toward the last of August of any year? I notice other schools are still playing some late August season openers. IMO...North Texas needs to get its future schedules to where we "always' play our season opening game at Apogee Stadium and have a realistic and good chance for a good season opening crowd at Apogee; instead of coming back to Denton 0 and 2 and getting shellecked by some of those Top 10 school's money games we play most seasons and this until Coach D-MAC gets his teams competitive to play the Big Boy money games (which I think he will do in due time).

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/sun-belt/north-texas-mean-green.php Happy New Year To All !

Watched and taped (yes, I still do VHS with my combo DVD TV) the game and IMO the best collection of talent in North Texas basketball history which our Rivals 5 star "future star" ,ie, Tony Mitchell makes happen. Most of us older alums thought Melvin Davis, Kenny Williams and Fred Mitchell back in the mid 70's were pretty salty but that was another era. May this team take us to to places unseen and make some of the media lose all this "little ol' North Texas" talk and I assure you if this team does what most think it can, there will be DFW media jumping on the Mean Green and Johnny Jones bandwagon effect. Sorta' funny how winning at a higher level seems to create that effect in a major sports markets. '

The great Albert Finney. I agree, SE. the best Scrooge "musical' ever. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year To......EVERYBODY! Peace on GMG.com and Good Will Toward Those Hip Hop posters who in their hearts know I'm old, senile and right... (at least....sometimes)? (olive branch) on my left shoulder and... on my right shoulder. It's an explosive emotion at times. GMG! PS: And thanks to Harry Miers and his labor of love in having provided this forum for all to express their views and opinions.

This!...will happen more often if we can get out of this losing funk. Amazing how some want to get on the bandwagon when we have had a few "W's" and those early on in the season.

The photo of last weekends SMU/Rice game was taken from the TCU message board from one who had apparently been at the game. Just looking at the student/visitors side one can probably see for themselves a a small group of fans wearing Rice's dark blue colors.

It this article had come from the National Enquirer, I would agree that it would not be a big deal, but it came from the Wall Street Journal who don't normally print fluff in their high distribution newspaper. And what the hell, we do need some new threads for discussion on this board from time to time as my own and others do tend to get a bit stale? Well viewed most of the times but still...stale. And.... how many more days can we really post or care that North Texas is giving 4 free tickets away to staff and faculty? Just sayin'.... GMG!

http://blogs.wsj.com...DS=coaches+poll The Big Boys are going to kill the goose that laid "THEIR" golden eggs eventually IMO. Somewhere/sometimes the courts are going to have to get involved with their greedy little run away train. North Texas (and many others similar) main problem is that were not part of this elite little football country club back in the 30's, 40's and on up. Noticed Grant Teaff refused to comment on the subject since he's getting his bread buttered by the accused. GMG! PS: Hardly a La Tech fan because of their arrogance, but it is a bit strange that they are not ranked higher than just a few votes.

Of course, we would all assume that recruiting was not part of their alleged and soon to be sanctions, right?

Deep'ster, trust me, they have enough of their posters who peruse GMG.com to see what we are up to and will see it here. Knock yourself out if you wish, though.

Fresno State, Texas State, UTSA, Denver, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State OK, with what's lefover of the above WAC schools, does North Texas join a new WAC with ULouisiana and Ark State and others? A New WAC? Louisiana Tech Texas State UTSA New Mexico State UTEP North Texas Ark State U of Louisiana Who in a depleted CUSA might be interested in joining this New WAC if any? Tulsa? Any others? Banowsky better break his silence because this New WAC sure as hell would if it had the remote chance of happening. The CUSA commish' has said absolutely nothing about North Texas ever that I can recollect, but said he was a bit bothered that SMU in their own search for a new league had not consulted with him at all. Duh? Who did I leave out that is most likely not going to the MWC? * UTEP would be prime for MWC so they might have to be replaced in this new WAC. I know its all in a name, but I still think the Western Athletic Conference branding still trumps that of the *Sun Belt in the perception race; maybe by just a tad, but IMHO it still does. We have lost Texas HS recruits to La Tech because they were in the WAC fellow sports fans and I think Harry would back that up, too. * Did the SBC really improve its own branding with the addition of South Alabama? The answer for many of us is.....no.

Still kind of bothersome to me that North Texas name is never mentioned in these kind of media blurbs or anywhere else for that matter. Surely we are not going back to the days of all things under the radar which at times has meant' that nothing of significance is really happening. Folks, you ready to see an upstart UTSA football program join a long line of other schools post-Missouri Valley Conference era for North Texas who have also gone "beep beep" past our 100 year plan for a football program? Sad to say, but that would just about do it for many alums I know. Put our name out there North Texas officials--no one else is going to do it (with the right people, that is): Even SMU got their name out there with Big 12 officials, got some publicity out of it then next thing you know they are going to be in whatever is left of the Big East. We all laughed at the Big 12 thing with SMU, but we did not when a school that we are literally and most likely out-drawing at the gate in our 8'th losing season in a row received an AQ league invite. (As a reminder, SMU was in the midst of about a 15 year losing streak their first year in CUSA). But...it's like Deep Green posted when he said "it's all about school branding with the BCS and bowl people." Deep, it really does sound that way more and more; that is, they want the name school no matter how poorly the name school has performed the last 15 years and apparently they could care less how poorly name school draws at the gate, either. This is why schools with good attendance like Southern Miss, East Carolina and others similar willl not make this BCS party because they were not on the NCAA radar back in the 30's 40's and 50's. To put this In layman's language, these crusty old NCAA/BCS/ESPN farts around the age group of the Chuck Neinas'es love to sit around and talk about their own younger years of following NCAA football along with their own father's memories as in the storied days of Doak Walker and Sammy Baugh to bring all this closer to home. They would rather do that than talk about how North Texas in 1968 probably had one of the 5 top football teams in the entire NCAA with several NFL draft choices coming from that team. Yet who the hell knew about any of that in 1968 since it was coming from our steam powered publicity machine in Denton, Texas? So in all reality, we have seen the enemy and it is who once again? GMG!

Liike in sales, the worst thing they could say to us is...no. None of this re-alignment business is over till its over. We now have a few on this board waving the white flag wanting to "dummy down" our program to join some old SLC foes. Talk about a slow, painful death... (Folks, no one on one of these message boards are going to have any influence in any of this; it's all about conference school presidents and AD's). San Diego State leaving MWC soon? http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/nov/26/sdsu-big-east-talks-turn-serious/ FYI: Conference USA combined regular season standings in football, 2005 to the present 1. Houston...41-15 (.732)...divisional champs: 3 (2006*, 2009, 2011) 2. Tulsa...40-16 (.714)...divisional champs: 3 (2005*, 2007, 2008) 3. East Carolina...37-19 (.661)...divisional champs: 2 (2008*, 2009*) 4. Southern Mississippi...36-20 (.643)...divisional champs: 2 (2006, 2011) 4. UCF...36-20 (.643)...divisional champs: 3 (2005, 2007*, 2010*) 6. Marshall...26-30 (.464)...divisional champs: 0 7. Rice...25-31 (.446)...divisional champs: 0 7. SMU...25-31 (.446)...divisional champs: 1 (2010) 9. UTEP...22-34 (.393)...divisional champs: 0 10. UAB...19-37 (.339)...divisional champs: 0 11. Memphis...18-38 (.321)...divisional champs: 0 12. Tulane...11-45 (.196)...divisional champs: 0

The 2011 WAC Football Champions, Too. The attendance was actually announced as 17,000 and some change. They are going to turn into the NCAA approx. 21,518 for their "new" attendance average record. Does that sound like good numbers for a conference champion? Hey our attendance is not to write home about, either, but we just finished our 8'th losing season in a row, too. I'll take our fan base after those losing seasons anytime. Some of their own fan's comments on the La Tech attendance from their message board: '"If there was 17,000 people there then there is going to be 270,000 people in the Dome tomorrow night for the Saints game. At best there was 7,000 people." "Last night at the game, I thought attendance was around 15K. After seeing some TV footage, I think we had actual attendance was as high as 13K" "The crowd was bad, people need to stop making excuses for those that were not there. I have been comming to this board for years and many always blame the lack of crowd on the team, coaching, winning, etc. Now if we can not get a crowd for a WAC Championship, an 8-4 season and a bowl, it is time to start discussing the fan base and how and if we can ever get them to participate.........................." "Somewhat disappointed in the crowd but I was pleased to see that this was the what the "hardcore" crowd has grown to - It was rain through out and heavy rain at some points - during and several hours leading up to the game....Even with the conference championship on the line, in this type of weather 3 years ago we might of had 2,500 people in the stands - tonite we had 3 times, maybe 4 times that..." GMG! PS: They ran a thread on our "13K" weather game several weeks ago with lots of laughter and sarcasm. Turnabout is fair play? But jeez, the WAC football champions and they are bragging about whatever their real attendance average is (which no one will ever really know--including the NCAA)? I know, I'm going to hades for posting this kind of thread.

North Texas does control its own destiny but that very thought alone is a scary one because look at our across the board program the last 15-30 years? We need to do something different with our destiny than what we've been doing is what I guess I'm saying here and I'm talking about careeer wins versus losses of all varsity progams thru a string of varsity coaches. I'm not totally dissatisfied with our average attendance this year inasmuch as we are (after all) in our 8'th losing season in a row--new stadium or no new staidium. The North Texas students of today would not be as impressed with a new stadium because they haven't had to sit in Fouts Field for decade after decade after decade. Rice vs. SMU, Ford Stadium, 11/26/11 Resized to 99% (was 600 x 450) - Click image to enlarge

On the other side of the coin, North Texas does not have about a hundred year membership or legacy in a major conference, ie, the old Southwest Conference to have built a fan base we have been trying to build in much smaller profile conferences (Missouri Valley, Southland, Big West and the Sun Belt) In a perfect world, Big East officials should have canvassed SMU students weeks before they were given a B.E. membership on a silver platter and just asked them if being in the B.E. would really create that much difference than what CUSA didn't really seem to do for Mustang football. GMG!