Tom McKrackin

Nice!

@flyonthewall how can we help?

This would be good!

I think the original poster is saying Wyoming gains a LOT by being able to sell recruits in our backyard that their DFW parents, friends and family will get to see them play because UNT gave them a freebie. Wyoming is paying UNT zero for this game. Wyoming will bring Zero fans to this game as well. Meanwhile, after all the big promises when Apogee opened we are still waiting for a decent home opponent other than Indiana lol.

Great news. I like these tournaments.

I contribute to help continue the progress I have seen in basketball.

While the camp is free, participants will need to preregister for the event, either by contacting Robinson at 214-870-3299, or online at zeffy.com. The camp is to be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Jerry Ives Memorial Stadium in Elkhart. Wilson, a 2009 graduate of Elkhart, rushed for over 5,000 yards and 62 touchdowns as a member of the Elks football team, parlaying his play into a scholarship to the University of North Texas. At North Texas, Wilson exploded onto the scene as a junior under the guidance of then offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, posting over 2,000 yards rushing at 30 touchdowns during his final two years in Denton. After graduating from North Texas, Wilson was signed as an undrafted free agent by the 49er’s, playing with the team against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs won the game 31-20. link: https://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/news/miami-dolphin-former-elkhart-elk-jeff-wilson-jr-holding-dream-big-903-camp/article_aa396466-290a-11ef-9710-eba4c4c6d96e.html

Next man up! I think young Cash might be the reason Stone earled on us.

From where Jimbo Fisher sits now, after years of coaching high-level college football programs, he sees a clear divide between the well-resourced programs in the SEC, Big Ten and a few other conferences and the rest of the world of college football. He went so far as to allude to certain FBS schools functionally becoming developmental stops. “Here’s what’s happening, all of your mid-majors and a lot of your not-mid-majors, I’m going to say some of your ACC, Big 12, old Pac-12, some of those leagues, they’re becoming glorified junior colleges,” Fisher said. “And some of those teams used to battle for playoffs and have great teams. They took that three-star guy or that four-star guy you missed and they developed him into a heck of a player and he became a great player at their school. Fisher used arguably the best football player currently alive to make his argument: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was drafted out of Texas Tech with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. “How about Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech? Would he have ever stayed at Texas Tech? Somebody would have came and got him,” Fisher said. “You know what I’m saying? And what’s happening, your haves are out there saying, ‘OK, I need a corner and I need a tackle and I need a running back.’ And they’re going to these four-year schools and just selecting, and those guys are really becoming glorified junior colleges, and it’s a shame. I mean great college football programs that have won big in the past and have had tremendously great players. But that what’s changed.” Link: https://www.on3.com/news/jimbo-fisher-claims-some-conferences-are-becoming-glorified-junior-colleges/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2rlzMeo_cEPD6TpbFAWoEUVqgpt_yqatMT52gyT6HICo_nyEvr2nFGOKc_aem_AfsuZvKQBBs_SzhuB_qg2qO7ZdN1vheq_Ks56BhKzhGA_HOPkEAyCuXzJk-zHgdQwWoqZ88nbNvoDCh4vmow0o4n

It’s true. They wield all the power.

This may be where we end up: There has also been past talk of a possible all-Texas Football Championship Subdivision conference but that has not gained traction. Those discussions could start up again. Read more at: https://www.americanpress.com/2024/05/14/slc-open-to-taking-back-sfa-others-might-follow/

Interesting, news seems to think Doug Burgum will be Trump’s VP pick. His wife, Kathryn is a UNT grad in human resources. Got me to thinking, has UNT ever had a President or VP First Lady in office historically? link: https://www.governor.nd.gov/first-lady-kathryn-burgum

Morris been here a year and already waving the white flag? I think we may need Dr. Smatresk to step in and provide some direction here.

They said his pen ran out of ink at the signing. They had to reschedule. 🥷

They keep doing this and listing puzzle pieces that fall through. I just don’t pay any attention to it unless I see confirmation.

He left us. I wish him well but he did leave.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — As he sat in the lobby of a posh resort last week, athletic director Chris Pezman reflected on the changes the University of Houston has undergone in the nearly 12 months since joining the Big 12 Conference. Fittingly, perhaps, the Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch was in midst of a massive renovation as the league’s three-day spring meetings were held in suburban Phoenix. The same can be said for UH’s athletic department as it continues to evolve to life in the Power Four. Q: What’s the biggest challenge right now for the athletic department? Pezman: Our biggest challenge right now, honestly, is money. We’re trying to catch up to a lot of other schools that have had greater resources for decades. I would tell you right now we’ve got a pretty big hole to fill. We’re trying to figure out a way to either manage our business better or enhance new revenue streams. Everybody chases the same things: self-generated revenue, ticket sales, donations, multimedia rights, those are the main ones. We’ve been way behind on that. If you look at UCF and Cincinnati, we are about $10 million behind them on self-generated revenues. There’s not any reason for it. We could make excuses all day long, but until we meet or exceed that we’re failing and that’s on me. Q: How do you close that gap? Pezman: You’ve got to continue to grow the season ticket base. Obviously, we saw a huge spike last year, first year in the Big 12, obviously the Texas game was a big part of that. Our whole goal is to maintain those numbers, don’t regress. We want to get where we are 33,000 to 35,000 season tickets sooner than later. Q: With UH not receiving a full media share until 2025-26, where does your total budget currently stand? Pezman: We’re at the $95-$97 million range for this year. Our goal is to get to the average ($120-$125 million) as soon as we can. We have to figure out ways to do that in a challenging environment with NIL. That’s the challenges. That same dollar used to go to us, now it’s to the kids, a million different ways, capital projects. It’s a very difficult problem that nobody has figured out the solution yet. Q: What type of impact has the $14.8 million buyout for former football coach Dana Holgorsen had on the athletic department? Pezman: It’s impactful. We’re carrying it on our books. I’ve got to solve it. It affects us how we move forward. I knew we had lost our momentum, and to see the response that we’ve gotten with Willie it justifies the decision. It was really expensive, and it was really painful for a lot of reasons. We want it to work. We have to make it work. But you also have to be smart enough to realize when it’s not and move on. (The school is currently on the hook for roughly $300,000 in monthly payments through the 2027 season). It’s a lot of money. It’s a heavy number. When we hired Dana we were still on the outside (Group of Five) looking in. We were trying to prove that we were investing and that athletics is important to us. We needed to do something like that. I don’t want to say to make a statement, but it was proof of commitment. Dana is a good coach. It just didn’t work. Q: How much has the belt tightening limited what you can do? Pezman: I would tell you 95% of our budget is locked. It’s scholarships, meals, insurance, game guarantees, salaries. It’s not like I can walk in and lay off a thousand employees and make it up. It limits our ability to do further investments in other areas that we want to invest in. In the long run it’s going to even out, because I think the success that we’ll find in short order with football will offset it. read more: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/college/article/state-of-university-of-houston-athletics-19437324.php

Love this pickup!! Size!!

WASHINGTON — The last thing standing between Ashnaelle Bijoux and her college dream is the FAFSA form — a financial aid application that's supposed to help students go to college, but is blocking her instead. She has tried to submit it over and over. Every time, it fails to go through. “I feel overwhelmed and stressed out,” said Bijoux, 19. She came close to tears the last time she tried the form. “I feel like I'm being held back." Normally a time of celebration for high school seniors, this spring has been marred by the federal government's botched rollout of the new FAFSA application. By May 1, students usually know where they're headed to college in the fall. This year, most still haven't received financial aid offers. Three months before the start of fall classes, many don't know where they're going to college, or how they're going to pay for it. “We’re asking them to make probably one of the biggest financial decisions — and decisions that will have the biggest implications on their lives going forward — without all of the information,” said Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. read more: https://www.channel3000.com/news/shareable-stories/college-financial-aid-applications-fafsa-enrollment-declines/article_3b06a35e-5d45-5b47-9259-9f61382e1ccc.html

He finally lost all pf Tracy Kee’s players.

I don’t have a dog in this hunt. That said, are we so immature that we can’t have a civil conversation about important topics?

In mid-April, New Mexico coach Richard Pitino joked on Twitter (or X, whatever) that he only had to wait 15 more days until he could be mean to his players again. Two young studs, JT Toppin and Donovan Dent, were the top pieces New Mexico was trying to keep out of the transfer portal. The Lobos went 1-for-2. Pitino getting Dent back for Year 3 is tremendous. The dazzling point guard was one of the top pick-and-roll maestros in the sport last year. With Jamal Mashburn Jr. charting off to Temple and Jaelen House exhausting his eligibility, the table is set for Dent to have a monster year. His frontcourt running mate will not be joining him. Dent was an elite play-creator, and Toppin became one of his favorite play-finishers. The Mountain West Freshman of the Year averaged 12.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. He was fabulous. But Toppin entered the transfer portal in the final hour, and he's quickly become one of the top small-ball big men in the transfer portal. Toppin has boatloads of Big 12 interest. Getting a potential Mountain West Player of the Year candidate back will keep New Mexico's floor high, but the ceiling changes without Toppin. Oh, what could have been... read more: https://247sports.com/longformarticle/oregon-unc-iowa-headline-college-basketball-transfer-portal-deadline-retention-winners-losers-231218138/amp/

A coaching change always kickstarts tons of roster movement, but new Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington was less than 24 hours away from emerging from the transfer portal fracas with Ven-Allen Lubin still in the fold. It was not meant to be. The emerging, 6-foot-8 forward entered the portal on Wednesday, just hours before the deadline. Vanderbilt hoops had a frustrating season, but Lubin was the major bright spot. He elevated his game to new heights after transferring to Vanderbilt from Notre Dame. Lubin went toe-to-toe with some elite frontcourts and dominated. He had 17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks against Auburn. He ripped Florida's intimidating frontline for 25 points and 11 rebounds. Lubin shot over 66% at the rim as an undersized center in the uber-athletic SEC. He's a beast. Lubin joins Great Osobor, Norchad Omier and Toppin as one of the premier small-ball centers on the market. He had to play the 5 at Vanderbilt, but Lubin could easily downshift to a matchup-hunting 4 at his next spot. Byington has built up depth in Vanderbilt's frontcourt with transfer additions like Jaylen Carey, Tyler Nickel and Devin McGlockton, but Lubin was primed to be near the top of the scouting report for the 'Dores in 2024-25, and now he's gone at the very last second. Cruel. read more: https://news.google.com/articles/CBMijwFodHRwczovLzI0N3Nwb3J0cy5jb20vbG9uZ2Zvcm1hcnRpY2xlL29yZWdvbi1ub3J0aC1jYXJvbGluYS1pb3dhLWhlYWRsaW5lLWNvbGxlZ2UtYmFza2V0YmFsbC10cmFuc2Zlci1wb3J0YWwtZGVhZGxpbmUtd2lubmVycy1sb3NlcnMtMjMxMjE4MTM4L9IBkwFodHRwczovLzI0N3Nwb3J0cy5jb20vbG9uZ2Zvcm1hcnRpY2xlL29yZWdvbi1ub3J0aC1jYXJvbGluYS1pb3dhLWhlYWRsaW5lLWNvbGxlZ2UtYmFza2V0YmFsbC10cmFuc2Zlci1wb3J0YWwtZGVhZGxpbmUtd2lubmVycy1sb3NlcnMtMjMxMjE4MTM4L2FtcC8?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Seems to me the asks are coming from a million different directions at UNT these days. Economy sucks and people getting laid off left and right. Meanwhile, our players are bailing to portal and students protesting on campus. Football team was 8th in the conference so in my estimation they are asking for support with zero results.

I agree wholeheartedly. My interest in football has waned.