GrayEagle

Totally agree. Dom has more speed which makes him more effective at the point. He also has a much better assist/turnover ratio. On the other hand, running the point seems to take Josh out of his game, at least to some degree.

Flyer, your scenario works well if there are 14 teams but what if the Big 10 with eyes glued on the New York market decides to go to 16? Because if the BCS is either dissolved or diminished the Big 10 will want to be sure that they are in the large markets for a larger share of the pie. I've looked at the dominoes falling there with the Southeast and possibly others also expanding to 16. If that happens, I can see no way that the Big East survives as a football conference. It could also cause mergers of the MWC/WAC and CUSA/Sun Belt. It could easily be that only eight conferences would remain. If we vastly improve football and get our attendance up quickly then I can see a scenario where we could join the Big 12. That would assume that they are also willing to expand to 16. Buy season tickets even if you cannot attend any or all games. The next musical chairs will no doubt include us. Where we land depends on how well we can sell our potential. Facilities should no longer hold us back. Attendance primarily got UTEP into CUSA and we need it to work for us.

My sympathy and prayers to you and your family.

Yep, Scott that is the same Time Duryea that was a co-captain on the 1988 North Texas basketball team that went to the NCAA tournament. I didn't realize that the Denton High product actually went to UT-Pan American before coming to UNT. After he left here as an assistant coach he went to Hutchinson CC as head coach and then to Utah State.

If I could be assured that J'Mison Morgan was sincere about being in shape and playing at an NBA entry level, I wouldn't hesitate a minute to take him over Babb. I think that the decision is made easier by the commitment from R J McGhee. While I would love to have two 2/3 the caliber of McGhee and Babb, I think that a truly talented big man, a speedy, heady point guard and a shooting guard the caliber of McGhee can get you to the NCAA tournament most years.

And that list didn't even include Zach Orr. I have a feeling that he plays his way into the two-deep and could be starting by year end. They may not be very big but this has to be the fastest set of linebackers in our existence. Several of these run in the 4.5 forty range and the entire crew is very aggressive.

First of all why did Obama suddenly open exploration and drilling? He didn't suddenly have an epiphany. There is something behind this move and I'm not sure what it is but I do worry that it might have something to do with the government taking over the energy industry. Or maybe just getting the energy companies to go along with cap & trade. As far as automobiles, the electric powered car is the future. Do a search on Shai Agassi. Basically, he proposes giving steep discounts on the purchase of a car then charging you for the electricity to power it. He would own all of the batteries. Charging stations and exchange stations would be about as plentiful as gas stations are today. According to Agassi the cost of electricity would be about a third the cost of gasoline. He already has two countries and an automaker lineed up. I believe that Israel is the first country to be tested. I do have some concern about jobs when thousands currently employed by oil, gas and coal may eventually be out of work with little prospects to replace them. We have to carefully measure each technological advance and don't abandon what's working until there is a better replacement phased in.

You are right about the experience for the most part but I believe (at least I hope) that there was a reason for this. Feeley, who started 7 or 8 games as a true freshman, Bean, and Franklin were all red-shirted last year in order to provide talent for 2011, the opening season in the new stadium, since Drake, Gill, and Santiago graduate after this next season. I didn't/don't approve of the action because talent doesn't improve sitting on the bench; talent improves with experience. I don't know whether it was Lefty's decision to play his starters almost exclusively (using Fortenberry and Tomlinson as the backups) or he was mandated to do so but unless there is a great dropoff in talent linemen need to be fresh because its tiring to constantly battle 300 pounders. I'd expect the starters for this coming season to be Gill, Feeley, JJ Johnson, Drake and Santiago. Fortenberry, Tomlinson, Bean, Franklin, and Flax all seem to be capable backups and I hope all get considerable playing time. After this I hope that they'll just play their ten best lineman and let recruiting fill in the gaps.

I assume that means Cole is no longer at Victory. Regarding the roster, why is Tyler Bailey still being shown? He is out of eligibility isn't he?

Except that Iseed Khoury is Israeli, not Iranian.

As of last year it was still known as graduate assistant. The SEC proposed that graduate assistants be limited to no more than seven years coaching experience which I believe passed. I couldn't find anything about a restricted earnings coach being a part of the NCAA.

I've had a software problem and couldn't post for a few days so instead of adding comments to the CUSA topic I thought that I'd start a new one. We won't know until the the Pac 10, Big 10 and Big East pick their teams how the mid-majors can shake out but here's my speculation. The BCS leagues will all go to 12 teams. My guess is that the Pac 10 fills from the MWC, the Big 10 from the Big East or Notre Dame and the Big East from independents and CUSA. If that happens then the best scenario is to form a new conference composed primarily of CUSA teams but in much closer proximity. Hence, here are my picks for the "new" Southwest Conference: TCU SMU North Texas UTEP Houston Rice Tulsa Louisiana Tech Louisiana (Lafayette) Tulane Southern Mississippi Memphis If one or two say no, consider Arkansas State and New Mexico State. This would not be a powerhouse conference but it's fairly solid now. There would likely be two hard sells but maybe only one...TCU. Why would I include TCU when they have been dodging these teams at every chance? Well, the most likely teams to join the Pac 10 are Utah and Brigham Young. Their loss would take the luster from the MWC even if they should add Boise State and someone else. None of those would likely be close to TCU and they would be a better fit in this conference. They would go in as top dog. Memphis may still aspire to be in the Big East but with Calipari gone they have lost a lot of their attractiveness to the Big East. Travel would be much cheaper because five of the twelve are near two major airports; however, most of the universities are within a day's drive. Only UTEP is distant. All of these teams have played at the top classification for at least 25 years. About half have good football records and about the same number are good in basketball. All of the private schools have good/great academics and North Texas and Houston, among the state schools, are above average. I had previously been studying how the realignment might end but finally just thought..let's do what's best for the teams in this area. Hopefully, there will be enough left for the teams in the Sun Belt and CUSA east to form another conference. The Mountain West will survive taking what they want from the WAC. It's the WAC that will have survival problems.

The thing about Johnson is that he gives the team so much more speed. He is the assist leader and can shoot pretty well when needed. He would be my PG. Josh is used to playing a lot of minutes and I think does a lot better when he is not saddled with the point. He's streaky but usually worth the minutes given. Tristan Thompson has to be in there so he is the three. I don't really know about Edwards. The last three years have been pretty much a waste as far as high level basketball. If he can recover his high school form he could end up starting sometime during the season but I look at him now as a backup to Thompson. It's hard to choose between Hogans and Holmen. Hogans brings rebounding, shot-blocking and the better defense. Holmen is faster and has a lot of scoring potential. Early on he had the best scoring average per minute played. I would think that you rotate them according to the situation but I would start Holmen. George O is an obvious choice for the other starting position. I still think that JJ may find a quality player for the other scholarship. I hope that it's another big man but I can't be sure if Williams is the point guard of the future so he could spend it for a point guard if that's the best player available.

All that said that Congress "robbed" Social Security for their pet projects are right. My employers and I paid into the fund for more than 50 years and had it been invested there would have been far more than I am getting now in return. I heard that the average SS payment is just under $1000 per month. Had that money been placed in an annuity the payback would have been about $2,300 per month. I'm sorry that you have to pay but the oldtimers have been robbed also. I read of a great solution that was proposed quite some time ago but ignored by Congress. All I can remember was that it was proposed by a black professor at Davis & Elkins College and it was something like this: Those fifty and over continue under social security. The contribution of those thirty to fifty would be divided something like 60-40 between SS and an annuity. Those under thirty would purchase an annuity only (they would lose what they have paid in). Each person would have his own account and would receive an annual statement. The account could not be touched until retirement age was reached. The government would only be involved in an oversight capacity. I know, that would be totally out of the question with the progressives that are in power today but it would have cured a lot of ills had it been done when we had the chance.

This is just a guess but since the coaching staff is filled with the legal number of assistants we likely added him as one of the two GAs allowed. There are no specified duties for a graduate assistant. Often they film practices and assist other position coaches but I believe that they can also be a position coach as well.

Totally agree. I don't even know why he's on the UNT Football site. I don't even think that he included us when he was the self-appointed Uniform Czar.

Another factor sometime used is accessibility. North Texas is only 20+ miles from one of the major airports in the country. If all FCS entries were included, Georgia State would be another relatively "cheap" location to travel to. Middle would also do pretty well. Some of the more expensive travel costs would be to Western Kentucky, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Troy (I wonder why they were not included in the survey), and La Tech. Charlotte is pretty accessible and would be great for the eastern teams. Under the present moratorium I do think that it would be very difficult for FCS teams to be considered. The exception might be South Alabama which may have been granted a waiver since they are already members of an FBS conference and are elevating their status. However, I wouldn't give them #1 attendance status on a makeshift schedule in its first year. Much of that could be curiousity and not be retained once they start playing opponents that will likely beat them on a regular basis. I still think that the Top 5 for consideration should be North Texas, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Troy, and Western Kentucky. Missouri State, Texas State, and Appalachian State would all make good additions to the SBC. Georgia Southern stock has fallen in recent times and UTSA is still an unknown, as are Charlotte and Georgia State. Jax State has a decent program but is in a weaker conference and relatively inaccessible (although certainly no worse than Troy).

Until the NCAA, especially the BCS, and the Big East Conference grow some gonads Notre Dame will continue to do as they damn well please. If the Big East kicked them out of their conference unless they play all sports, that would at least get their attention. Obviously, they can play as an independent in football but it would cost them a lot of their NBC money to be independent in the other 13 sports required for Division I status. Why is Notre Dame the only one allowed to do this? I'd bet Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, etc. could all go it alone in football. Their TV contracts might be a little smaller but they could survive, especially if they had a conference for their other sports. No one should be above the organization. I agree with the buckeye who said that they should be sent to the Big East. If they are against that then let them play an outlaw schedule with no consideration for a playoff spot. I hope that the Big Ten and the Pac 10 will go ahead and do what's best for their conferences and let ND take the hindmost.

Whoa! K-Mart has less baggage than Michael and has experience at North Texas. Wonder what he's doing these days?

Deepest sympathy and condolences on your loss. I'm sure that you've had great memories of your dad and you will always get to cherish those. My prayers are for you and your family.

If we can get 10% of Nebraska's spring game sales in attendance that would be fantastic! I don't mind the Sunday game except that some of us will be coming from church and live an hour or more away and it may cut into tailgating time. Other than that, we should be very interested in seeing the new coaches and players and look for improvement in the impact players on offense and defense.

Rick, that may be true for next year but I believe that Denver's time is up the following year and unless and until there is a replacement for them the problem will exist again. My question is that if the ruling were overturned and we were awarded the #1 seed (which I'm sure won't happen)would that make us eligible for the NIT should we lose in the conference tournament?

Did you notice that about half of his coaching life was spent at K-State?