stebo

I am just curious why we are playing on a Thursday night - for internet? Does that make sense to anyone?

Dodge did a lot to clean some basic things up re: APR and off the field issues but he always seemed to be "hoping" for wins rather than confident about building the team. Signing small wide receivers and not putting an emphasis on D was always a huge concern for me. Hell, Mac doesn't even seem to be talking about building a "team" - he is way above that - he is building a "brand"! Love to hear him say "Go Mean Green" and dress like a head coach. There is something to be said about a coach that still wears a tie (and a green one at that!) - it commands respect from the fans and players. I never really liked the Under Armour casual look with the staff during the Dodge years. It seemed gimmicky... and kind of high school. I am liking what I am seeing and hearing so far. I suppose that my only hesitation with Mac is his overall W/L record at ISU... it is just hovering around like an elephant in the room. I hope that we do not have to go 4 or 5 years to start seeing winning teams but I will support the program no matter how long it takes. Let's just do it right this time. Go Mean Green!

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the gentleman was responding to the very first post of the thread. TXST@SM was listed as the second school right after Tulsa. The guy is just letting us know that they already have a schedule in place...

Excellent offseason discussion! I would imagine that we would be honoring our contracts by returning to Houston and Indiana sometime soon (assuming that those were 1 for 1's)... Not sure if Tulsa is in the cards - We complete a 2 for 2 series this year that started in 2005 (in Denton), we returned the game in 2006 up there, hosted them again in 2008, and will return the final game in 2011. I have not read anything about a renewal but would be 100% in favor of keeping that series going. I remember reading that NT and Army signed a long term deal similar to the SMU series. We played up there last so maybe we will have them back in Denton sooner than later. USA will play 2 FBS teams this year and a bunch of FCS teams like Lamar (UTSA?)... but one of their fans posted on the Belt Board that they will play 5 Sun Belt games in 2012 as the first year of transition (guessing close teams like MTSU, WKY, TROY, etc..). In 2013, they will play a full conference slate to complete the move up to FBS and I believe that in 2014 they will be eligible to go to a bowl game.

Those were Matt Simon's boys! We had just moved from IAA to IA and had some great transfers. What was that guy's name that was the "Booger" of that era? He changed his name a few times. Montgomery? He played arena ball up in New York for awhile. I do agree with Harry, those are some great names to see. I had not thought about that group in a long time.

Usually these types of rulings just take away the wins from the other team but they do not award a win to the losing team (they do take away the loss though). So instead of being 2-10, he might end up 2-9. It's like the game never happened.

I was thinking that too - but Western Kentucky is also playing Kentucky (SEC school) in Nashville that night... so we are not the only Belt school playing that Thursday night. Maybe the WKY/UK game gets picked up by the SEC Network but the game is considered a "home" game for Western Kentucky...

Yeah man, I completely agree. This schedule is cherry. Indiana and Houston at home plus 4 conference games with good dates. Schedule is evenly spaced out for the competition. I was checking the rest of the Belt out - we really need to give our AD huge props for schedules like this. I see that Western is playing host to Kentucky - but in Nashville. Middle is playing host to Georgia Tech - in Atlanta?? FIU does have UCF coming to the "Cage" and aState has Memphis coming to Jonesboro. But across the board, we have the best schedule - attractive opponents at home and away with 11 winnable games on the docket. Huge kudos to RV and staff for once again providing a great schedule with just the right amount of balance.

So let me get this straight - we are playing on a Thursday night... for the internet audience? That has to be a misprint. No way that FIU would agree to take a hit in attendance by playing on a weekday for an internet televised game, right? Huge kudos for avoiding the Thanksgiving weekend!!!! Looks like a great schedule to me, the only question mark is that Thursday game for the Tres.

There is absolutely no truth to this rumor whatsoever. The Belt has plenty of bowl games and lose money on the three that we are tied to. We placed all three bowl eligible teams this year and with the amount of bowls out there we will continue to do so. The NCAA has placed a cap on the amount of bowls and the league is at it. Also, to qualify for another primary or secondary tie in, the Belt would have to show an ability to fill those slots through win/loss records. We are capped out and could not associate with another bowl if we wanted to. UTSA and TSSM will pay their dues in the newest "move up" league (the Wac) and is they are successful than they will be considered for membership. Probably the best news to come out today was that the Mwc decided not to expand and add USU or SJSU. That will leave 2 spots open in the MWC for a potential invite when NT starts dominating the Belt again. With the resources we NOW have, we will be back to the top within a couple of years and one good QB signee. For now we will build the Belt. And for anyone that thinks USA is just another start-up school, you should take a hard look at that institutions support, attendance, budget, and record. They will be the next Troy or better. They will be a contender from day 1... learn about them, they are doing this the right way unlike the "Runners" and their 3 fans.

That is funny as hell! But very true :/

I know that people have strong opinions about UNT at Dallas but my girlfriend is looking at finishing her degree there. There really are no other options if you want public and Richardson is way too far to drive. I just wish that it had remained a satellite campus rather than choosing to be a stand on its own entity. I was pleasantly surprised by the academic rigor required to be accepted. Jackson did a pretty good job of seeing that through.

Excellent information, thanks for all of the replies! I just want to make sure that I can park where my tailgate group will be parking... Sounds like there will be plenty of parking. On last question - will the kids that live in Victory Hall have their spaces on game day? I imagine that they will still get to park in their lot that day, right? We are going to see some serious student traffic from that dorm. That would be the dorm that I would want to live in!

SUMG, Where will the parking be? Will there be any difference between Priority Parking at the $250 level compared to the $500 level? Or are they waiting to see how many people join before they decide that? Basically what I would like to know is - Could priority parking simply be parking at Fouts (across the highway)? These are the questions that I need answered before deciding on any commitment level. By the way - if I was a restaurant in Denton (Pourhouse, Hooyah, etc..) - I would be running a party bus to and from the stadium just like they (Hooters, Hoffbrau, On The Border) do at the Mavs games from the West End. You get all the customers' business before the game and all their business after the game as well. Before the game people are pumped up and after they will drink to celebrate or drink to be sad - one thing is for sure, they will be hungry after the game. The restaurant/bar provides the parking and gets a ton of business in return. There is some free business advice for you Green Nightmare, pass it along

Is the MWC simply the new WAC? Yep, basically... but it is the WAC from when the WAC was very good. WAC Membership (1995) In the last 17 years, 10 out of 11 WAC members have moved to the MWC, 8 of the 11 will still be in the MWC in 2012: New Mexico Wyoming Colorado State San Diego State Hawaii Air Force Fresno State UNLV Utah BYU UTEP MWC Membership (2012) – 8 out of 10 members will be WAC teams from 1995. New Mexico Wyoming Colorado State San Diego State Hawaii Air Force Fresno State UNLV Nevada-Reno Boise

I am sure that Coach Dodge wants to go watch his son play. And I am equally sure that it would be very weird for him to watch his son from the stands in Denton. Awkward times 50 good luck to the entire Dodge family, I appreciate everything that you did to clean up our program. Our APR score is back up, the off the field problems have been drastically reduced and we have a new stadium. Good luck in the future, i will be following your football careers (both dad and son)

Well, that is a bit unfair. Students bring in money from other sources. They have financial aid - half goes to the University, the rest is spent at local establishments. The University is not tax exempt from sales tax - so all those purchases have sales tax revenue for the city. This is not even counting the money brought into the city by students that have parents helping out, college accounts, etc.. I would not count students as poverty level spenders - they are not on food stamps or welfare, they actually have more discretionary spending money than the average earner because their liabilities are so low (no mortgages, very low overhead to live, etc..)

Don't we have a home and home scheduled with Houston?

I just listened to those MP3's and personally, my thoughts are that the changes were very much needed. The old version sounds very old fashioned - complete with barbershop quartet singing in the middle of it.

UT has no reason to play at North Texas. They play in different areas for recruiting purposes and to reward alumni. Since UT and OU play in Dallas every single year, there is no reason to schedule another trip. Is everyone forgetting about Kansas State? That was a pretty darn good team that came to Denton. We have taken this same approach at NT, but we still schedule 1 money game a year. You could argue both sides for one money game - if you are a player, you want to play at the big boys. If you are a fan, you want a return trip. If you are an administrator, you want the money. I remember that attendance study as well but I thought that the average would have to be 26K a game to eliminate the canned hunt games. With the student fee kicking in Fall 2011, everything changes. p.s. Is it possible that we had gone away from these games and then had to schedule a couple when we fired Dickey? The program had to pay a half million to get him to go away.

And if you go back and read what we said - our statements are being made on the facts and rules (as well as the history of the NCAA and how they have always defined/interpreted those rules). There are several rules that may or may not change - but the NCAA has been trying to stop Div I from expanding and changing the rules to make it easier (in any sport) will contradict everything that the NCAA has been trying to accomplish over the last decade. Yes, it might happen - but it is just as likely to not happen. I hope that you understand that your school just gave up your conference home for another Great West. If I was your AD, I would be looking for a way OUT of the invite and back into the Southland - as quickly as possible. Basically, you will be a group of schools that schedule one another but do not qualify for any playoffs or auto-bids. That is for Div I - non football matters. On the football side, let's say the new rules do pass... you would need a bona-fide FBS school to move to the WAC because you will no longer be a bona-fide conference (with only 7 members). Since you will not be a bona-fide conference, you will not be able to sponsor any additional schools to move up to FBS and get to the minimum of 8 schools. That means you will not be recognized by any entity - including the BCS. Each school will be treated as FBS Indies and get the token half unit amount. And all of these scenarios are based on the best possible situation, meaning that all the rules you would need would pass AND they would need to be interpreted the way that you want. Even with all of that, you will still not have access. As for bowl games - yes, you could get lucky and end up in a bowl game down here. Most likely it would be in some far off place that has trouble fillig the slot - like Detroit, the day after Christmas. But you will have to pay for that invite and guarantee a certain amount of tickets. The TV deal will go away. I am going to guess that Karl is hoping for Lamar to move up. And finally, UTSA and TS@SM might have a rivalry but the fans sure don't know it. Check your basketball attendance from the last few years. Do the "Runners" even have a fan message board? I have seen about 3 or 4 fans making a lot of noise and I think that is the extent of their fan base. I want to repeat (for like the 50th time) - I am hoping that you guys make it, but it is not going to be easy and you are not going to have the luxury of a real conference to help you out. If you pay your dues and put a good product on the field - I am sure that the Belt will consider an application for membership. What you are entering is an arrangement very much like the Big West. Our fan base watched as our program was almost dismantled because of the problems associated with it. The Belt saved our program and allowed us to rebuild what had been destroyed. You have a healthy athletic department as of today - but a couple years in the new WAC will fix that for you.

How can you have a rivalry with a team that doesn't exist yet?

I remember when the race track was going in out by my parents. Everyone thought that it would destroy the small town feel out there and that was just for one race a year. Instead, what it has done is bring in millions of dollars in revenue and allowed those cities to flourish. The prperty values have gone up and the tax rolls have gone through the roof. I have friend that I went to High School that is on the Roanoke City Council and they have so much money - they literally don't know how to spend it all. If I lived in that neighborhood, I would be excited about having a big time college program next to me so that I could enjoy the games and the exciting opponents that would be coming to town. The city will have more tax receipts as a result and flourish as a result. Small time thinking and paranoia will eventually be replaced with planning for the game weekends and knowing when the game is. It is not even 6 full days that this will effect them, it is a few hours of those 6 days each year.

The schools that broke off from the WAC - were the WAC schools before it went to 16. They were the schools that had been together for decades. The only school that remained was Hawaii. If you look at the line-up of the WAC from 30 years ago and the new MWC, you would see that they are pretty much the same teams. So the MWC was essentially the same group of schools (that had been together for decades) with a new name. The new WAC does not resemble the old WAC, or any version of the 4 WAC make-overs - it is essentially the Big West plus some Southland schools. But you do realize that you will not actually be in a conference, right? Because the conference will not be recognized by any entity. That is why Karl is talking about going with the "at large" philosophy regarding bowl games (good luck with that). Again - I am rooting for TS@SM - but the Runners are a pain in the rear and I hope that they fail. While you will be joining the WAC scheduling alliance in 2012, you will not be an FBS member until 2014 - and that is dependent on just about every member of the WAC in 2012 and 2013 coming to both San Marcos and San Antonio (for both years). You have one FBS game scheduled, they will need to provide the other 9. My point wasn't that you wouldn't be able to schedule home games, of course you will... But most schedules are already set for those years so it will be difficult to get any more home games on short notice. Hopefully the WAC scheduling alliance can provide those other home games for you.