GrayEagle

Then that should be two getting awards as Devante Davis of Baton Rouge Woodlawn also received one for best skill player on the Black Knights. As far as I know, he is still committed to us.

Assuming that the 23 figure is correct then I must be missing one because I show five scholarships left. Here are the eighteen that I have so far... Dustin Clark, Davante Davis, Malik Dilonga, Boone Feldt, Christian Hines, Brad Horton, Xavier Kelly, Royce LaFrance, Rod Lancaster, Mark Lewis, Dylan McDorman, Sam Rice, Jarrian Roberts, Rex Rollins, Nick Schrapps, Andrew Tucker, Sir Calvin Wallace, and Chase Walling. Also, only Feldt, Kelly, LaFrance, Lancaster, Schrapps and Tucker have been given 3 stars by Rivals and Rice by Scout. That's seven three-star athletes. Clark, Davis, Hines, Lewis, and Rice have yet to be graded by Rivals.

Maybe not this year but watch out when WV leaves. Their average attendance of 50,000 the last two years will count for plenty.

It all started in order to get a creditable opponent for the Apogee opener. If Houston insisted on 2012 when they agreed to be our opening opponent then we're honor-bound to keep the away date for next September. It would be terribly expensive to get out of the LSU contract but we may have to bite the bullet. Could K-State be talked into making the return in 2013? If none will acquiesce and we can't afford the buyout with LSU, the we must have the best home game that we can get; certainly not an FCS opponent. We're going to have to realize that the schedule won't be to our liking until we are in a conference with opponents known to our students, townspeople and to a lesser extent, our alumni. We need to buy season tickets and attend games for a couple of years, regardless of who we play. Poor fan support could keep us out of a higher-profile conference and hinder scheduling the known regional teams who would be out of our conference. I'm far less worried about the team that we will put on the field than I am with the attendance for the next two years. We desperately need 25,000 fans who are willing to sacrifice a less than spectacular schedule for the chance at a bigger trough. Hold your nose if you must but step forward and support your university. If you don't the progress of the last year will be lost...perhaps for years.

Rivals shows that we have a commitment from LB Dustin Clark of Borger. They have not yet rated him and list him as 6'0", 202. The only information on his sheet is that he had 19 sacks. Texas Football had him listed as 6'1", 205 with 4.5 forty speed. As a Jr. playing DE he had 116 tackles and 11 sacks.

One quality that I noticed was sportsmanship. Years ago it was quality word but it has apparently lost it's value today. Perhaps Dr. Rawlins, being from that generation, was trying to express a little courtesy and compliment TCU and SMU on their achievements. At the same time I read that "you may have beat us there but we're turning the corner and will catch up." We are terrible sports. We criticize virtually everything that either accomplishes which makes them even snobbier and us look sour and jealous. The paragraph about basketball was completely ignored by our readers. In it, he expressly mentioned North Texas as the basketball leader in the Metroplex without any kudos to another Division I team. Lighten up. Our president's letter was not written to demean us or say that we will always be in third place. Tearing down SMU and TCU will never elevate us. We elevate ourselves by beating them (whenever we have the opportunity) or their constituents (when they won't play us). However, for now we should not worry about them or what they have accomplished; only what we will accomplish.

Not that it matters in the final analysis but I think that Rivals seriously underrated the kid. Based on all that I can find out about him, he should have been a three-star athlete.

Harry, I agree with each point that you made but we do not know that every one hasn't been covered. We are much more experienced with the ins and outs of politicking for admission to a conference than any previous effort. Rick Villareal was the Athletics Director when we applied in 2005 so he has been through this before; albeit unsuccessfully. President Lane Rawlins was instrumental in the formation of CUSA when he was president at the University of Memphis. Who better to know that conference? He has also been a member of the NCAA council so he should know the requirements and how to best present them. Chuck Neinas (and his firm) has been an advisor in coach selection and supposedly also in selling the university to other institutions. If I remember correctly, he was the one who gathered the information for CUSA at the last expansion. I would bet the farm that we have prepared a sterling presentation and have been in contact with the presidents of each institution in both CUSA and the Mountain West. Dr. Rawlins knows what is at stake financially for us and I'm sure that he understands that a higher profile conference will be far better for us attendance-wise. Our previous downfall (when UTEP was chosen) was facilities and attendance. At least this time they can't gig us for facilities. Another advantage is that neither conference will now have a presence in the fifth largest TV market and we have more alumni in that area than SMU and TCU combined. Our proximity to the third busiest airport is another plus. We would be in the center of a merged league or within the footprint of either conference. Our football program appears to be turning the corner as our coaching changes have us moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, the improvement is not yet enough to be a strong factor in our favor. Our other sports, especially basketball, are becoming very competitive. We have much more going for us this time around. One thing that I'm definitely with you on is the accounting for any reason, or reasons, for failure should we not be accepted. At least, we have one less adversary in each conference this time around so protecting turf can't be the excuse.

Maus appears to be a very good player. But, realize we already have seven DEs and another that should be playing defensive end.

Keep him away from here. Coaching changes seem to either precede or follow him. He also had interest in Kansas.

It's a technicality. It was hidden under our noses all the time, cleverly disguised as the Men's Gym, err...Ken Bahnsen Arena. RV just added basketball practice to its usage.

Except for La Tech the MWC teams are better than the WAC that they are leaving. Better than that, they at least have a conference to go to. The WAC won't have the necessary eight teams to have a viable league.

Something doesn't seem right. MWCUSA is losing part or all of DFW, Houston, Orlando, Boise, and San Diego markets but is picking up part of Monroe and they can command more TV money than the previous contracts? What we got out of this that is more than one person's opinion is that the two conferences will meet January 15 to discuss their future. Don't take anything more than that from it.

If Rice were substituted for Southern Miss this would be the TV markets and their rank: North Texas - DFW - #5 Rice - Houston - #10 Colorado State - Denver - #17 UNLV - Las Vegas - #40 New Mexico - Albuquerque - #45 Fresno State - Fresno - #55 Tulsa - Tulsa - #59 Hawaii - Honolulu - #71 Air Force - Colorado Springs - #90 UTEP - El Paso - #91 Nevada - Reno - #108 Wyoming - Cheyenne - #195 That's a lot of TV households. Conference should remain stable with only Air Force on any higher conference's want list. Attendance should average in the lower 30s. All stadiums seat at least 30,000. All have athletic budgets above $20M. Should be the top nonAQ conference.

If and when North Texas is accepted into a higher profile conference, have door hangers made announcing the fact, ask for community support (and their support in particular) and get volunteer students and/or alumni to distribute them to every house in Denton.

I like the heck out of this suggestion. Where's the "Airport Six" to make it happen? If the group didn't want to go east of Texas/Oklahoma then I'd be willing to swap Southern Miss for Rice. As the poster said, "Rice is a fine institution" and while their days have faded, the Houston market would be a plus for the TV contract. CUSA would survive but they could strip the Sun Belt of its best teams and definitely finish the WAC for football. Just one stipulation...none of this "football only" garbage. I'd hope that would even include Hawaii. There might need to be some negotiations whereby no mainland team has to travel there more than once every four years in the non-revenue sports but let's have this an all-sports conference.

Now do you see why you can't be open with negotiations until they are final? When they fail it's hard to come up with a plausible excuse. Not only are you disappointed and angry but the embarrassment will never go away.

There will be nine teams in CUSA when SMU, UCF and Houston depart so only three are needed to return the conference to twelve teams. When negotiating TV contracts, larger TV markets are a better sell so that advertisers are happy. Temple is in the fourth largest TV market and North Texas is in the fifth. La Tech is the better program and would be my choice if there are no complaints from the TV network. FIU is in the large Miami market but is a young program that has had attendance problems until recently. Their on-campus stadium only seats 23,500. FAU, whose market is West Palm Beach, also has little history and attendance problems but at least they have a 30,000 seat stadium on their campus and have had two 20K+ crowds since it opened. CUSA is not an original entry conference so UTSA, who is not a FBS program yet, would not be in their radar. Their target should be the Sun Belt, who will take FCS and new programs.

The Air Force Academy has decided against moving to the Big East. Besides, if they did there would be 13 members unless WV can manage to leave early.

If CUSA would return to 12 by adding Temple, North Texas and say, FAU, they shouldn't lose anything from their TV packet. In fact, they should gain. Basketball would be an attractive part of the package. I don't think that Conference USA has that much of a problem. There are plenty of problems to go around though for the MWC and the Big East. The East, although they had to go 3,000 miles to do it, has saved themselves for the time being. The Mountain West on the other hand has been devastated. They have lost five expected top teams and left with few choice markets. They need CUSA until some of their teams can build back. They're trying to buy time and it appears that C-USA is going along so they have no complaint due. The NCAA is a train wreck and is only going to get worse. There are solutions but until they get the cooperation of Delany and Slive they won't/can't happen.

I don't know if his acceptance as Big 12 (interim) commissioner voided his contract with us or not. Chuck, personally, might not be able to act in our behalf but that might not apply to his firm. Of course, if we were trying to get into the Big 12 that would be a conflict of interest, with or without a valid contract.

What did Banowsky say? I've read it a dozen times and I can't determine his intent other than talks will continue with no timetable. I know "coachspeak". I think that I've just been introduced to "commissionerspeak". BTW, if there is a merger is there any indication of who survives as commissioner?

You might prefer for the work to stay behind the scenes. If any progress became known there would be a barrage of hate from both current members and aspirants. If a leak happened before anything was signed, and it backfired, we would be the butt of many jokes. Quietly, I'd like for our backers to know the progress but that would be public knowledge as soon as some members could get to their computers and phones. I have confidence in our president. Dr. Rawlins knows the NCAA as well as any "outsider" could. We also have a consultant whose firm is very good at knowing which flesh to press. If there are additions, and I believe there will be, I like our chances a lot.

I don't think that transfers count toward the 25, only toward the total 85 scholarships allowed in any one year. We have a little wiggle room there.

Unless Air Force has agreed to go to the Big East, there are 17 teams left in the two leagues. Were they included and Navy dropped? There hasn't been an announcement yet but my understanding is that the Big East will consist of: 1. West Virginia (for two more years) 2. Louisville (for possibly the same) 3. Cincinnati 4. Rutgers 5. Connecticut 6. South Florida 7. UCF 8. Houston 9. SMU 10. Boise State 11. San Diego State 12. Navy That would leave nine in CUSA and eight in the Mountain West...total 17 (for football; 16 for all other sports). Does that mean that the Hawaii deal is off? Unless they are guaranteed an AQ spot this merger is even more idiotic than the Big East area which I thought took the cake. When does sanity return to the NCAA?