PlummMeanGreen

Such a league you suggest has all the characteristics of one that will never have a Top 25 ranked football team in it--probably not even Top 50 and we're in a league like that right now. Agree with you that Simons's first year at North Texas was special as we were getting great crowds out to retain NCAA D1-A status (which we did). "See ya' later McNeese State!" (G. Dunham). Matt was a cool dude until he and Helwig became at odds and then he went into some other world after that. Apogee Stadium gives us more opportunity to do things that many will not think possible if Coach McCarney does what I think he will. Coach Fry and those after him never had a true major college football stadium to have as a vehicle to recruit to, to create continued growth and success which never happened on a grand scale at Fouts Field and never would while it was our home football venue. normack9, you will go absolutely ape-$h&t first time you enter Apogee Stadium and hear the sounds of a true major college football environment because of its accoustics. Here is one example of that with this link below as we scored the first TD at our new football palace. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6956909 We all hope to get to meet you in December ! !

It's the Big East annual conferenceTV revenues that will draw all the schools they invite (and all of whom will accept). I don't think a championship game between 2 non AQ leagues (CUSA and MWC) is going to keep those the BE are interested in from saying "no" to BE officials. The TV revenues from the BE compared to the MWC/CUSA TV monies are more than dramatic. GMG!

If there are still any future AQ's at all coming from whats left of CUSA (minus UH & SMU) and the MWC (minus Boise and AFU) I still think the nod goes to the MWC as being that league. All left of CUSA is just a knotch ahead from where we are now except trips to Houston (and Rice) ever other year. UTEP is a too far out for us to think of them as a true rival albeit we did have some good things beginning to happen with NMSU before they left the 'Belt. The WAC before they lost Boise would have been a good choice with us and 2 other 'Belt schools, but the WAC now is a joke. Sorry I digress, but from what other boards posters have said (even UH's) about SMU's glaring attendance problems along with their exxagerated attendance numbers, I still don't understand why that schools just keeps getting passes from just about everyone--Big East included. It's almost as if SMU thinks they can hide all that from everyone which quite frankly they have done a superb job. I think SMU in a Big East arrangement will be a much more difficult league to win for sure, though. If we could build our into a Boise type BCS bowl buster program that would give us an advantage over Smoke & Mirrors U and I would not worry about our recruiting against the Stangs at that point. Yet we have to get out of this malaise we've been in for just about all my adult life for us to do anything significant. GMG!

If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts we'd all have a Merry Christmas. (quote often used by the late, great Dandy Don Meredith of Monday Night Football fame) IF....we were just coming off that 4 years in a row run of New Orleans Bowl games of the 2,000's even in an upstart conference, of which the criteria being used by fans of most of these conference and school smack boards at other outposts as of now might not hurt us at all but (instead) would make us appealing. or IF...we were coming off former UNT HFC and College Football Hall of Famer Hayden Fry's 6 year run of success in Denton with some national notoriety and a Top 20 ranking..... THEN.....I Feel We'd Be Getting More Mention In All This Re-alignment Talk (although I do notice our name slowly appearing more in some of these conference projections. With (maybe) SMU to the BE and TCU (for certain to the Big 12) and therefore both gone (respectively) from CUSA and MWC but moreso a new opportunity for us strategically located.... in the North Texas Metroplex with it's #4 ranked TV market, I think one of those 2 league's Commish's need to make a quick phone call and visit to Denton, Texas, America. Strange as it may sound now (and we are for sure in strange times as far as the NCAA is concerned)...... .......but which of those 2 conference Commish' might catch hell from their respective league schools for losing out on America's #4 ranked TV market (which is hardly something to ignore in today's NCAA) because they............procrastinated? GMG!

We just don't have friends in high places I guess. When you have a UH Coog poster saying they played SMU last Fall at Ford before 500-1,000 fans then you see its just really more than about attendance. Hell, only schools like North Texas get crucified on that subject (even with our modest 20K per game average to date) when other Big Timers have been having really bad attendance problems for decades. One has to believe these BE or MWC types are doing some semblance of checking up on some of these schools resume's, especially in the attendance department. If not, then the North Texas game attendance counters just needs to become pathological liars about what our attendance figures are, too. (not really) GMG!

What Texas really needed were another 2 FBS schools in our state boundaries. Hell, let Midwestern U in Wichita Falls join this FBS party, too. And how about Lamar U reviving their program to give us about 14 such schools at that NCAA level here in the Lone Star State. Lets just have one big Texas conference with only Texas schools (like the SWC almost was) and cut that travel down to Texas interstates and see how happy this giant Lone Star family will be. Of course, kiss off any future Top 25 rankings because we would be the Texas version of the Sun Belt Conference with no national respect in Year 10 of our existence or Year 20 or Year 30. Hint: TCU is where TCU is today because they basically removed their football program to a conference that did not have other Texas universities in it to cloud their future in the NCAA because they were with a cluster of Texas schools that kept beating up on each other. I'm happy for utsa (sorta') but didn't they have about 3 years to sell season tickets to their San Antonio populace for their first season? Yes, impressive numbers, but when the Road-Runners have about 8 losing years in a row with who they are scheduling whose going to be left in the AlamoDome? Do the locals just re-adopt UT-Austin as their team again? SPEAKING OF UT-AUSTIN....utsa is still in the long, giant shadow of that other UT school only 1 hour from SA so how will that ultimately affect their overall recruiting? They are glittering at the gate now with their "once in a lifetime" start-up honeymoon with the Alamo City but I believe University of Houston officials would tell them they had to get the hell out of the Astrodome because they were losing major support from their fans and students weren't making the drive from campus to their Dome; thus the reason they moved back to Cullen Blvd and the UHcampus and will soon build an on campus stadium that will be their Apogee'esque Stadium. North Texas still needs to use TCU as a model or we will just be smothered and blended in with the rest of all these other Texas-based FBS school newbies and that is not what a school like North Texas needs at this time of our history. Just a-sayin'.... GMG!

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/big_east_to_invite_six_VYHt8ArQpLKGN5Cz8tZSlM

Having driven from Old FW Hwy 377 onto Bonnie Brae to Apogee it seems some Denia'ites are making some pretty good front yard parking monies profit from MG football fans. All power to them...but let them use some of their profits to attend a football game or 2 every decade or 2. I have some great karaoke songs (among 20,000 other tracks on my laptop karaoke software) on the theme of beer.

And I'm sure that is where beer availability will remain. Is there some state of Texas statute against public universities in our state selling beer at an NCAA event period?

Why do some schools get to and some don't? I think beer sales would get most of the tail-gaters inside the stadium near kick-off, too. Concessions under the Student Section and the Press Box side could sell beer and leave the concession area under the Wing Section dry (as at least a symbol to the Family Plan ticket buyers that NT is thinking of them, too).

No Cougar Love For SMU As Both Texas Schools Vie For Big East Admission From 2 UH posters on CoogFans.com RE: Why is SMU generally mentioned before us? I just don't get why the BE "possibly" has SMU ahead of UH. Being in Dallas, I have been on the SMU campus probably 30 times in the past 10 years. I have seen SMU before the threw in money on athletics and the campus and after and have seen the stands on TV. SMU just doesn't draw for football and they are not going to draw because DFW doesn't care and SMU doesn't have enough students to build a base or enough alumni to fill a stadium. That's not going to change. If the BE are seriously considering SMU and UH and can't figure that out, they really are clueless. UH is going to leave SMU in the dust within the next 5 years in athletics, facilties, academics and campus. To not see that if comparing the two; is sad. RE: Why is SMU generally mentioned before us? Can't somebody send the Big East a picture of their (Ford) stadium for Homecoming last year??? I mean, they must of had at least 500-1,000 there for our game. PS: Hey HogDawg! Post those huge SMU Homecoming numbers on BB&B instead of getting all shambalyed, crawfish pie'd over our 13,000+ last week. GMG!

On FAU passing us by? Red zone time: Only time we've been successful in the SBC (that many of us feel Coach Mac is changing as we all post) is when it was a league full of some pretty bad football teams--several of whom just up from another NCAA classifcation. We need to aim at being the flagship of the league we're presently in as a ranked football team and let the rest of em' catch up to that. I thought Troy was going to be the first SBC team to have that honor at one time, but our league teams keep beating schools who might be close to getting Top 25 votes in this our 11' th year of existence. The MAC over the years have had 1 or 2 Top 25 ranked schools so whoever our SBC football champion is any year it would be nice if they were actually ranked. Leach? I would have a problem having a coach with a last name like that. He might never want to leave. (of course, just kiddin') GMG!

I believe I read on another message board that he has already committed to transferring to...................smu. GMG!

"the latter three"........................teams like Tulsa, Ball State and Ohio.

My main problem with the SMU of this generation is what seemed to be a blatant black-balling of North Texas when their Prez' Turner in the DMN was flaunting La Tech as a possible member for CUSA while turning his back (and non-comments) about us but.... ...to look at SMU's side of this, why would they really want to compete with any of this posted below when LaTech would be so much easier for the 'Stangs to compete and recruit against? It's A Numbers Game--Always Has Been . Wouldn't Such Numbers As Those Listed Below Translate To Good TV Ratings In The 4'th Largest TV Market In America? North Texas Metroplex....Approx 7.5 million population in 5 county area which includes Denton County...Home County of the University of North Texas. *Denton County Pop: Approx. 700,000 *City of Denton Pop: Approx, 120,000 *UNT Enrollment: Approx. 37,000 *North Texas Exes in the North Texas Metroplex: Approx. 100,000 GMG!

Good point...except we don't recruit against 2 of the 3 latter schools you mention. If anyone doesn't think TSU-SM's Coach Fran (and one of his assistants-- Darrell Dickey) ain't going to focus on most of the players we recruit, then I have some ocean front property in AZ to talk to you about.

As another poster posted, once UTSA starts playing FBS schools and getting hammered game in and game out; season in and season out, many of those San Antone' "fans" will then go back to watching that other UT team on TV "only" 1 hour up the road at our state capital city. (Still not sure how the long shadow of UT-Austin will affect UTSA in the long run, either). North Texas is at a crossroads of sorts because of the presence of Apogee Stadium. North Texas must come up soon with what direction we truly want to go with such a football palace and a new FB venue that has received such rave reviews will soon force our hand to do just that. Boise State and TCU (to an extent since we do not have their kind of monies) will still be 2 good models for us to follow--not UTSA or any school in the WAC that I can think of for now....all this IMO, of course. GMG!

The Epistle of James: Chapter XXXXIV (a short chapter) Too long ago for me to remember what they did but actually....I am not a fan of any of the above. When I'm not working DJ gigs on Saturdays (or have a 6 inch rain with a hole in my roof I have to tend to) I l absolutely love this newfound Apogee Experience. We are now seeing signs that longtime Dentonites who never supported Mean Green football are having a similar experience, too. My DJ schedule this Fall has been a bunch of Friday and Sunday gigs leaving the first part of this season open at this point. And All The Local Pro Teams? Stopped following MLB after their first strike, NBA is a bore although I did watch the finals years ago when Houston won the NBA championship, Stars?......only ice I deal with as a real Texan with hat and 2 horses (Dandy & Lady) is that that I put in my Lipton tea and finally...............Arkansas Jones is not my favorite Cowboy owner by a long shot. I wish for all the local pro teams a good season with all their over-paid contracts--but just not a follower. That SMU/North Texas game (and win) of 1990 was a real satisfying experience for all of us who were there, though. I recorded it on a VHS tape and then had it converted to DVD as a life long keepsake. IMO, now is not the time for us to dummy down our future football schedule. We have to move up and out of the kind of low profile OOC games we had at Fouts Field because as we all know....Fouts Field is no Apogee Stadium. We have to play schools worthy of playing in Apogee! Whew! I just wanted to try out for size some of that SMU arrogance! Addendum: We just have to do now what we need to do with where our program has been, where it is now and where we want to go (up the NCAA totem pole I hope is our goal) and playing all the newer FBS schools in Texas would not help us in that department. TCU should prove to us all how it worked for them to go rogue; that is, to remove themselves from too much of a too Texas-based school philosophy of scheduling and now they are in the Big 12. TCU playing UNT at the level we've been most of 2 decades was not going to help them get a BSC bowl game. Texas schools that play Texas schools at our level who keep playing lower level Texas schools (as we are at the moment) will never see a Top 25 ranking or..........a better conference. Look how hard it has been for CUSA schools to annually break into the Top 25 until now? UH playing and beating UCLA the week before our game with the Coogs creates that kind of scenario--not their opening win at our fabulous football stadium that is by the way getting superb national reviews. Just sayin' a few things as to what 38 years around this Mean Green football program has taught me and it has taught me much as a self-professed college football novice. GMG!

Well now hold it just a minute.... in 1990 we sold out the SMU game (an NT win) with almost 23,000 fans in a (then) 20,000 seat Fouts Field. (I have the game on DVD as it was televised, too). Many of the games you mention one has to wonder what a MG football team with a prior winning season or even an above .500 season the year we played some of the schools you list one has to wonder what could that have done for attendance? The Metroplex is a major league sports market with a "winners town" attitude and we haven't done much of that lately. Winning seasons + Apogee Stadium will do wonders for North Texas football. If we were still in Fouts--all bets off on that.

#6untwillrise Diamond Eagle Group:MembersPosts:615Joined:19-June 06 Posted Today, 02:07 PM People in san Antonio just wanna watch any football! Once utsa starts playing real fbs teams and get crushed people will go back to watching UT games on tv instead. ________________________________________________________________________ I agree with the above post on utsa.

\ Most inspiring post since Ms. Donnna Fielder of the DRC's editorial on her great time at Apogee. Amazing what getting out of Fouts Field over to Apogee Stadium has done. We need to get this growth pattern to happen even quicker somehow. GMG!

I bet anyone on this board could easily find a Safeway parking lot for SMU Prez' Turner and Commish' Banowsky to have a "gentleman's" duel. I will gladly present the dualing guns to both gentlemen and just hope I wouldn't get the blanks mixed up with the real bullets again, especailly with one of the dualist.. Banowsky has probably upped his Zanax prescription in recent days.

Probably been said, but the ACQ conference monies SMU and (moreso) UH would get would more than cover $7 million to get out of CUSA. They'd be fools to stay if they had an ACQ conference available. SMU would not have a problem getting the $7 mill, they just can' t fill their stadium even with bowl teams but only seemedly when TCU comes with their 10,000 plus fans. I would love our chances to dramatically improve our attendance with winning teams and playing TCU type schools at Apogee. I think most of us know what we could do now with our much larger constituency. We just have to get out of this losing mode we've been in much too long so we can show what we are capable of doing that others cannot do with winning bowl teams. GMG!

I think re-alignment has been a constant theme since the Southwest Conference broke apart and even based on the fast paced rise of going up the conference ladder success of South Florida who was an upstart and then just a few years later are suddenly in the Big East? Also, what I was trying to say (w/o success) was that UNT's more recent albeit mid 2,000's run of success should be more revelant to conferences looking for replacement schools than SMU's 3 winning seasons over a longer span of years beginning in 1990 when they returned from the DP. Yet SMU is back in a win cycle and we are not at present, but one must think that these conference leaders are looking at criteria than those who have just won for only the last 1 or 2 years, too. Just sayin... GMG!