wardly

i googled NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC BUDGET and followed the bouncing ball. just using them and LA TECH as examples, which i guess were poor choices. regardless, i would like to see a minimum athletic budget to weed out those who can't afford to support all sports they have. again, just an opinion.

don't know where you are getting your information. according to their president they reported a $16 million athletic budget to the state 12/1/10. also, according to albq. journal article 8/12/10 they transfered $4.1 million from academics to shore up athletic department, which still ran a $8.4 deficit. regarding la. tech, i would not want both them and ulm in the belt as they basically cover the same market. howver, la. tech would be a big upgrade in all sports over ulm. just an old man's opinion.

i feel that if the belt is going to grow as a conference that can compete in athletics as a whole they must establish an athletic budget benchmark. this will weed out the bottom dwellers such as ULM, keep out programs such as NMSU, and allow the conference to add stronger programs such as La. Tech. your thoughts?

even though you never saw john savage play, no list is complete without his inclusion. i never saw joe louis box, but still know he was a great fighter. just an old mans opinion, plus "big john" is in unt basketball hall of fame.

plus one. it was great seeing him play in mem's gym. he got better each year.

i would not trade my experience at north texas [61'/66']. having said that, i found that in the dallas business world bein a ut,a&m,or smu grad opened doors and offered networking opportunities that being a unt grad did not. same applied in ft. worth, except substitute tcu for smu.

i read shreveport times on line. to compare shreveport market vs monroe market is like 2 bald men fighting over a comb.i just don't see the need to have two conference members in such a small market if we can add members in states where we have no representation.again, just my opinion. in a perfect world ulm would drop back to southland conference and la tech join the belt, but i don't see that happening.

i don't disagree, but they have a poor, underfunded athletic program with a small vocal fan base and little attendance at events. from a conference point of view, la. monroe serves the the same market. if we are going to expand,i would hope that we enter new states..i don't understand us not wanting to add strong 1aa programs. i may be wrong, but i think that ull and usa are only belt members that didn't move up from 1aa[i'm not sure about fau and fiu].at any rate, i would rather have a georgia or n.carolina 1aa program moving up rather than a school in the same rual louisiana area as an existing conference member.

a new market, such as georgia. monroe is much larger thar ruston, and judging from la tech's attendance, few people from shreveport support the dogs. it just appears to me that we don't need another piss ant sports program in ne la. just an old man's opinion.

good post. if we add a team or 2, i think its got to be a 1aa moving up, especially if we grow south east. nmsu and la tech bring nothing to the table.

they can if there are big money contributors who are opposed to la tech returning to belt and are threatening to withhold contributions. just saying.

if you brouse nmsu and la tech's fan forums you will see little if any interest in moving back to the belt. if texas state is not our target, then i don't know who is, assuming the belt is not taking a 1aa moving up. if they are, and want to grow southeast, then there are several opportunities.

nmsu has big financial problems. the state has mandated cuts that really effect the athletic department, so unless they can save big money by returning to the belt i don't see it happening. they may even have to drop down. la tech brings nothing to the table. they are a small school in a rural market that is already covered by la monroe. also the louisiana schools have financial prblems simular to nmsu. if we are going to add an existing division 1 football program i would assume it would be in a market we don't have a presence in. the only attraction for these 2 schools that i can see is that it would allow the belt to have east/west divisions that actually make some sense, and kill the wac. otherwise, i don't have a clue who/if a 11th school would be. perhaps we should think outside the box instead of focusing on the usual suspects. just an old mans opinion.

i think we need to temper our expectations this season. we have a hard schedule, and could easily be 0&5 at end of week 5. i think we will be a better team, but may not have a better record for a few years. our o-line and d-lines are just too small. give us a chance to recruit and you will see the turn-around we all expect.

hiring is like medicine; its not an exact science. the only people who have never made a hiring error are those who have never hired anyone. it appears to me that before the student fee passed and dr. rawlings came on board we were forced to hire unproven assistant coaches because thats all we could afford. granted, some assistants become excellect head coaches, but there is always a greater risk in hiring them.[like taking a successful salesman and promoting them to sales manager]. i would expect us to draw from a pool of experienced head coaches, but would be happy with an assistant hire from a proven program such as baylor for example. just a old man's opinion.

on paper a bumblebee can't fly, and stephens can't coach.

another problem is that we are trying to make our home schedule more attractive, and its difficult to get the bigs to come to denton. we can probably get all the road games we want, but it would be great if we could get some 2 for 1's.

i know its been a long time, but i could have sworn i saw him introduced at senior day in uniform. oh well, i'm an old man with apparently failing memory who can't spell.

thanks for clarification. also,if memory serves,Helwig's son was on the bb team under Trilli. don't know if he was on scholarship.perhaps you do.

simon was "pushed out", jake leaving was mutual according to what helwick told me at the time. i am getting my information based upon facts as i know thenm to be. however, i have slept since then.

actually, our former bb coach who is now at ill.state quit , as did fb coach matt simmon because of a.d.craig helwick [sic?] insane oc schedule. he basically was funding the athletic dept. with body bag games in both sports. i don't see jj moving west, as his recruiting base seems to be more s.e. based. the troy bb coach just finished his 29th season there, so perhaps jj will stay put. however, if a major conference has an opening in the s.e., then i'm sure he would be interested.

a senior team should not lose with a 7 point lead in final 1:50, so its hard for me to blame the refs.we committed 3 fouls and 2 turnovers during this time.[ triston missed a layup, and hogans a slam dunk in 1st half as well as well.] biggest difference i saw was in previous games when triston drove to middle and there was contact, a blocking foul was almost always called. in ular game it was reversed, with charging called on triston 2 or 3 times. i thought this was a major difference which hurt him and our team. however, it was our game to lose, and we did. we just ran out of gas at the end.

i agree. however, if we were to add a basketball only school i would vote for uta. they are building a new arena,have a good baseball program, and would give us a natural rival, something we have never had.

i sugested to rv several years ago that we "cover" the upper deck during games to reduce seating and make the arena more intimate, but quite honestly he had bigger fish to fry. i don't know what cost would be, but it would bring fans closer together.

your comments are appreciated! regarding the band, most bb bands i have seen [sons went to arkansas,auburn,and uab] tend to dress down and just have fun.[ my favorite is the RICE m.o.b.]the cheerleaders share time with the UNT DANCE team,and spent most of their time entertaining the student section. i have court side seats, so i can't comment on the lighting. a jumbotron would be great, and perhaps its something that we could work on in the future. i don't know if you are aware of the fact that the super pit is a university multipurpose faciality with its own management, and not under our athletic department. we schedule time for it like all other university departments. this was only way state would fund it, as the state of TEXAS will not pay for athletic sticks and bricks. in summary, hope you and your friends come back next year.