GrayEagle

In UNT's case I'd split the earnings with programs that don't pull their weight proportionately with the others. Sometimes pulling your weight is a cyclical thing. If Texas had a ten year drought in bowl appearances should they still command the lion's share of the revenue? For now, I wouldn't mind Texas and OU getting extra revenue but I don't know exactly how it should be formulated. None of the others pull equal shares but how do you go about instilling a program that has to be recalculated each year? If we were fortunate enough to be added to the Big 12 I wouldn't want to rock the boat for a long time.

If I recall correctily those drawings resulted from what was to be the home of the Denton Outlaws in the college summer league. Unless our ship comes in we can't start with a Baylor Stadium (and they didn't either). We need something that we are not ashamed of but it does not need to be the Ballpark in Arlington. I'd say just build something that will hold a couple of thousand with plans for expansion to 5-7 thousand, depending on interest.

http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=925090 He is simply listed in the 'Others Who Impressed' area of the article. This would have been going into his junior season. His class spent their sophomore season at North Mesquite High and I would think that he was no exception. He is in the first graduating class of Sunnyvale High. His coach says that he dominated everyone that he played against but he was much larger than the competition so that means little. SMU was at least impressed enough that he was recruited by them although they didn't offer.

http://www.unt.edu/untmasterplan/documents/Final_Master_Plan.pdf If I understand the plan correctly the area where Fouts currently stands will be a landscaped parking lot. The parking garage will be where parts of the blue and orange lots are now. The opera house is near the Murchison, I'd guess on the blue lot. The master plan also shows the track facility at the south end of Eagle Point.

Will Atterberry P Greg Brown TE, ST Christopher Bynes WR DeWaylon Cook S Steven Ford CB James Hamilton RB Breece Johnson WR J J Johnson C Bennie Jones WR Nick Leppo C Micah Mosley RB Chris Neal CB, ST Derek Thompson QB Nathan Tune QB There were several others that were out one or two games...Dodge and Drake come immediately to mind.

Two at best. Both came from black high schools which received very little publicity and they were from Dallas and Temple. If they had played at a little town of a thousand or two they wouldn't even have received a rating. By the way, although there were no star ratings in Hayden Fry's day, Milton Collins was the top-rated athlete in the state of Texas.

I have suffered through this talk possibly longer than anyone who has posted on this board so I can understand how you feel that way. But, this is not my old University of North Texas (actually NTSTC). The current and last two presidents have backed athletics more than any former president except Jitter Nolan. The students have stepped forward with their support, not just vocal but with their pocketbooks. Every facility, except basketball, didn't exist in their current form five years ago when we made the only attempt to advance our conference level. Former ADs didn't (or couldn't) show any initiative because their hands were tied by our administration. In other words our facilities were poor, our funds were poor, our attendance was poor, student support was poor and administrative support was even worse. That situation no longer exists. So you can't judge our current situation by what has happened in the past. I feel better about this new coach hire than I have any since Hayden Fry. I firmly believe that Dan McCarney will energize the student body, the alumni and the people of Denton County more than any coach we've had. As Rick Villareal said, "he will be a friend-raiser and a fundraiser." And, unlike the most recent hires, he has proven himself because he has succeeded at this level in the past. Assuming the MWC decides to go to twelve teams I think that we would stand a decent chance. We would be the largest university in the largest market. We have more living alumni than any other MWC member. We will have a shiny new stadium which will be comparable in size to four of the current and future members. We will have a major leap in revenue beginning next year (although several million of that will go toward paying for the new stadium). DFW International, less than 25 miles away, makes us the most accessible. If we are invited I would hope that it would be with Houston. That would give the MWC their two largest markets and paired with Denver, Las Vegas and San Diego enough clout to gain a pretty decent TV contract. If both Houston and North Texas accepted that would help with travel costs as our division would also include New Mexico, Air Force, Colorado State and Wyoming. The MWC would have to use a little vision in this expansion. They would have to trust our new football staff and the improvements and advancements in other sports that we have recently made. Assuming that they intend to stay west of the Mississippi what would be their alternatives? Utah State? Smaller school, smaller market, smaller attendance, smaller stadium, with comparable football. UTEP? Has us beat in attendance and is slightly better in football. They have a larger football stadium but are smaller in number of students and alumni. If Houston declines I would hope that the MWC can convince UTEP to join. Idaho? The smallest stadium and among the smallest in attendance in the FBS. Small student body and Moscow is almost inaccessible. San Jose State, while a large university in a populous area, they still don't have us beat in any category. New Mexico State? I like them but they don't have size, market, location or football going for them. Louisiana Tech? They're used to going west but they are smaller, with a much lower budget, and a much smaller, more inaccessible market area. In five years who knows what the landscape will be? Why do we need to wait that long?

I worry less about LSU than if we had to go across town and play Southern. We seem to play up or down to the competition.

Only because we don't even have one game to base it on. What HoustonMG is saying that if we can upgrade the conference. I agree in part but it depends on the conference. We'll have a tough time maintaining a 25K average in any conference other than CUSA or the Big 12. All of that is predecated on at least winning more than we lose. If McCarney and staff can tap into the student body then I'd wager a few hundred that we can reach that goal but we can't do it with colleges that our students have never heard of. Edit: My bad. He said in the next 2-3 years and we'll still be in the Sun Belt most, if not all, of that period. We should average in the low 20s however.

I certainly wouldn't bet the farm on adding two teams to the MWC and especially those two teams. UTEP I might could see. They had better attendance when they were in a western conference. Utah State is a lot more iffy. They don't have that much attendance (less than ours), far less media market, and a poor record. That brings me to my big gripe. I'm tired of hearing that Marshall and East Carolina want teams added in the east. They are the ones that are out of place. The only available FBS program even remotely close is Temple and I can't believe that CUSA wants to go there. In fact, it's been reported that they want to move more westward. It's also been rumored that UCF may be the next to go to the Big East. If true, that would further dilute the eastern footprint of CUSA. Besides, ECU is a possibility for either the Big East or the ACC should they lose Boston College. It's hard to see them being in CUSA for the long haul.

By sheer numbers the Big East has had a lesser chance. They only had eight teams where the others had a minimum of ten. The fertile recruiting areas are Texas and Florida. The addition of TCU will open up Texas to the Big East. They have some Florida players from the addition of South Florida. West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse and now TCU have been high in the polls at season's end. TCU will also reduce the stigma of them being thought of as a basketball conference that plays football and they should be getting even better recruits. I expect them to add UCF and if/when they get Boston College back as rumored and/or possibly add Notre Dame they will be a fairly solid conference. Before this can happen they need to split from the non-football colleges. That will change their perception among the pollsters.

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That is the TicketCity Bowl with Texas Tech and Northwestern. Prices are $26 to $110.

What's missing is not the $$$$ per se. What we really need is a stadium. We have the land to put it on. We have dedicated funds (somewhere in the 3/4 million range) that should cover the startup costs with enough left over to prepare a field. We are in well enough with Title IX that we might not even have to have another women's sport to match. I don't think that temporary bleachers are the answer but the cost shouldn't hold us back for long if all goes well with the new stadium. Just hurry.

I don't see us taking very many JUCOs because: 1. The real studs aren't available. 2. Signing date is only 11 days away and have three coaches aboard. 3. Coach Mac's philosophy. I would hope that we can get the Blinn LB Jackson. We need high-caliber immediate help and he is a good fit. There are a couple of unsigned DLs who would immediately help but I don't think any are available for spring. Still, they are the quality that we need and I hope are fast learners. There also are a couple of offensive linemen but we are not currently on their radar. In my opinion that's about it. I don't see but one quarterback who is highly rated and he would be doubtful for us. I hope that we sign a couple of high school prospects who could possibly develop into stars rather than a 'servicable' QB prospect for next year, none of which is better than Dodge or Thompson. I don't expect Evans or Bell to be on the coaching staff at UNT but I do expect recruiters of their quality.

He has them in the Meinecke Car Care Bowl vs. Maryland. Didn't West Virginia get the BCS spot due to higher ranking?

No hated rivals. We love everyone and everyone loves us.

First of all, SMU has better coaching. That is the main reason for their improvement. The talent is also improved but Jones just seems to be able to get more out of what he has. SMU didn't beat Houston. In spite of SMU's improvement I still consider them the third best team in the western division behind Houston and Tulsa. They did manage to beat Tulsa by 3 and Tulsa beat Houston by the same. The Ponies had some luck but they're also a pretty good team; well above us at the moment. SMU is an expensive place to go to school. A scholarship to SMU is worth far more than a scholarship to North Texas. It has excellent academics in the areas that it grants degrees. Its graduates have had successes in life so that a degree from SMU gains you more prestige. That's the main reason that athletes pick SMU over UNT. On the other hand we have good academics, not up to SMU's standards, but good none the less. We also have far more degree plans to choose from which allows us to pick up some recruits from the private universities.

Jones is just a diamond in the rough. He's from a small town and probably hasn't had the best, or at least the most experienced, coaching. Maybe he's just superior at the 2A level but I leave it up to Coach Canales to evaluate whether or not he can succeed in the FBS. As far as Minden, he's done as much as he can possibly do at the high school level. If we can only offer one he would win it hands down in my book.

Way to go, Wardley. Now there's something positive.

The linebacker coaches at TCU and Oklahoma could turn Diet Coke boys into top linebackers. I tend to agree with you on the Big 12 pipe dream. It will likely depend on Coach Mac's success and how soon it happens. Being a large school with lots of alumni in a very large media market and only a few miles up the road from the league office can't hurt. On the other hand if we fail in this bill my grandson won't see it happen.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/theoldcoach/football/recruiting/player-Joe-Minden-109313 I don't know his GPA but I'd wager that he's already qualified. I'd redshirt him unless both Dodge and Thompson go down. But first he'd have to beat out Cooper Jones which might be no slam dunk.

Didn't we pay Chuck Neinas to formulate a plan for advancing our football future? His contacts with the NCAA and CUSA in particular should keep us in good stead and pay off handsomely in the end. It already has in the coaching search.

Man, give me Joe Minden and Cooper Jones and I won't care about any JUCO QBs. Both are rated 5.5 by Rivals, the highest rated unsigned players left on the board.

If you've seen any of the McCarney interviews he has repeatedly said that he likes to build a program with four-year players. He said that he would use JUCOs in an emergency but the use would be limited.