wardly

san jose, idaho, and nmsu are barely keeping head above water, and we both agree that utah state is basically a given. i don't know if houston would move or not, and the same goes for utep. if they want continued exposure in dfw its us or smu. i think their tv contract is up for renewal, so i would expect them to make a move in the next 90 days or so.

ecu reminds me of la tech, except their football attendance averagers 40,000+ er game. however, they have no tv market, and no place to go. i think they are stuck, and if ucf does move to big east this spring, cusa might look to mtsu,wk, of fau to replace.just an opinion. plan b would be for belt and cusa to work out mississippi east and west conferences. which makes too much sense to happen. regarding utah state, mwc lost byu and utah, and wants presence in utah. utep might just stay put.

salt lake city tribute reports hawaii to get official invite for football only to mwc this week, bringing conference to 10 football and 9 bb teams. article states mwc may stay where they are, but if they go to 12 utah st. and utep would get strong consideration. if utep goes, i would think cusa moves memphis west, and adds another team in east. marshall and euc complain that they are too far away from other east division members. that, coupled with possible loss of cfu to big east, is motivation to replace losses from mac or belt in the east. nova has open invitation for big east football, but must say yea or nay by end of school year.

i talked to lane rawlings yesterday at a social function about nmsu hiring an outside marketing firm to look at their athletic program from a marketing perspective. he seemed interested, said he is a strong beliver in using outside consultants, and left me with the feeling he would follow up on that concept. i don't know him well enough to know if he was just telling me what i wanted to hear or was really interested. at any rate,time will tell.

fiu @ 6&6, and troy @7&5 were belt co-champs ,but how do the mutts @6&6 get a bowl bid, and temple @ 8&4 with winn over u. conn. don't?

i think he retired from florida 2 years ago but came back . also, he might have health issues.

i read where urban myer announced his plans to retire after floridas bowl game, with formal news conference scheduled for monday, dec 6th. coach mccarney might of got out while the getting was good.regardless, great hire for north texas!

this is a question, not a statement. with 70 out of 120 teams going to 35 bowls[aprox. 6 in 10 ], how hard should it be for north texas to get a bowl bid on a regular basis?

i read somewhere on mew mexico state fan board that they are hiring an outside marketing company to evaluate how to better promote their athletic program. of major concern is mens basketball, where attendance has dropped from high of 9,000 to present average of 6,000. perhaps this is something we should look at.

what did you expect from an obama yellow dog democrat? in football winning and a new stadium will improve attendance and giving. i don't have a clue what we can do about basketball, except keep throwing spitballs at the wall and hope something sticks[.tcu and smu would kill for our bb program.] i agree 100% with you that this is a great time for unt athletics, and am looking forward to the future. i think that is something we both can agree upon.

i don't see how you can read a negative tone into my post unless you are just looking for one. the point i was trying to make is what is the plan to increase attendance , which has peaked in football for the past 10 years, and our alunmi giving to athletics? this has nothing to do with bricks and sticks. you can say "build it and they will come," but will they pay and stay? i never said we could not compete. what i suggested was what we needed to do to compete. if you don't understand marketing 101, you might need a refresher course. whatever you learn you can apply to increasing the pathetic attendance at our mens bb games, unless of course, its a lot of bull.

have just removed foot from mouth. i didn't know mccoy came from a 2a highschool. my bad. pile it on.

i will leave it to coach chico to decide, but i have a hard time getting excited about a 2a qb. i would much perfer a qb from 5a or at least 4a ranks.

if you google mwc[or cusa]2010 football attendance, you get estimates, which has tcu 1st in mwc with about 41,000,nevada last at 18,000. cusa has ecu 1st at 50,000, uab last at 18,000. belt fan board has mtsu 1st at about 20,000, wk last at 14,500. unt,asu, ull,and fiu all average 17,000+,one slot above w.k. i agree with you that it should be easy to increase attendance next year with new stadium, plus indiana and houston at home. at 80% ,{24,000], we average as much or more than tulane,memphis,smu,rice,tulsa and uab in cusa, unm,csu,unlv,wyoming and nevada in mwc. good times are comming.

last 2010 football attendance numbers i recently saw had us with about a 17,000 average, ranked 7th in belt. this number would put us 8th in cusa, and last in mwc. these figures have slightly changed since k.state home game. this is fyi,not trying to stir anything up, but just wanted to see where we stand in comparision.

i think we are in violent agreement. regarding "every other school", you are right. however, my concern is north texas and what we can do to improve our program. i hadn't thought about smu maxing out in football attendance, but point well taken. probably reinforces need for regional conference. no one comes to see them play cfu, or us fau.

smu has about 12,000 students, tulsa about 4,000. i wouldn't be too happy compairing football attendance,even with 6 down years. also, smu has poor basketball program, while we don't.[ i don't know what you mean by seperation]. regarding $7millon more annually into athletics, i assume this is based upon student fees, as i am sure its not increased alumni giving. since we are in the belt, are you saying attendance will not come? would it come vs cusa or mwc ?chicken or the egg? i am not saying we don't have some value to another conference. i just don't think its as much as it could/should be. we need to increase attendance regardless of conference,especially in basketball, and increase alumni giving by increasing our fan base. by doing so, we become more attractive to mwc and cusa. thats no bull.

why is the truth a lot of bull? the comments i made have nothing to do with joining a AQ CONFERENCE and everything to do with being attractive to mwc or cusa. no, i am not blind. i see the new facalities. i also see average football attendance at around 18,000 this decade. i also see aversge mens basketball attendance below 3,000. a dream without a plan is still a dream.

i would love to see us in mwc or cusa. however, i see a few problems when i remove my rose tinted glasses. we have a small fan base at present, no tv following,don't travel, poor financial support from alumni, and a underfunded athletic program. i realistically believe that winning solves some of these issues, and feel that with our new coach and stadium we have a chance to move forward. hovever, we have never seemed to address the following question; what do we want,[lexus], what do we need[transportation], and what are we willing to pay for[used pick -up truck]? until we open our wallets as much as our mouths we will continue to be a sleeping giant. just an observation.

i wouldn't get too upset over the reception. one problem was that those in back couldn't hear the question asked, and became disinterested with the q&a. it was a good turnout and everyone was fired up. not a bad problem to have. this guy is good!

what a great hire [and move] by coach mac!

from big 8/12 friends i have, think mccarney is a great hire for us. he did a good job under difficult recruiting circumstances at iowa st., similar to what he will face here. north texas needed to make a statement to alumni and other conferences that we are committed to big time football. regarding our outside consultant, i don't begrudge him his $40,000, as he added much needed creditably to our search. in the big picture, whats a $40,000 expenditure when compared to a $78 million investment? for that matter, whats $500,000 annually if it produces more revenue? i was not excited at first, but have come to believe we may have hired another hayden fry. just an opinion.

mwv has 10 football schools now that tcu has left[this includes hawaii], and has stated they plan to go to 12 and 2 divisions with playoff. question is, do they stick to their roots, and add utah st. and utep, or come back to dfw market with us or smu. you are right, its about tv market. however, as long as mwc is contracted with versus they won't get much exposure.i don't think houston has much interest in mwc now that tcu has left, buy i could be wrong. i do expect mwc to move fast and get this done by years end.

my question is why would north texas, smu or houston consider a move to mwc? it reminds me of our experience with big west, and smu's with wac. at this point, all 3 schools appear to be trying to become a regional football power, as opposed to tcu who is on the national stage. i would probably want to stay in the belt with an eye on cusa. what say ye?