stebo

The UL AD just left for this reason. He said that it was impossible to get a decent pay for his coaches and that he was tired of fighting the good fight for them. But you can't fault their system entirely for this. Bustle is the highest paid Sun Belt coach (he makes about $400K a year if he hits his incentives) so he is taking up a lot of their salary cap room with his own paycheck. I would be willing to bet that the coaches have left UL for more money... If I were Ricky Bustle, I would take a pay cut and award some pay raises to my hard working assistants.

Please tear it down and tell me where I am wrong... I am hoping that I am being too melodramatic about it all - but I just see a storm on the horizon and can't help but comment on it. It all started when LJ flexed his muscle with Logo-gate and continued to unfurl with Pohl's announcement. We haven't even begun to pay back the loan made by the BOR for the Athletic Center build-out and they went and loaned us another $1 million bucks or so for the new turf - a pro-athletics BOR is the key to us moving forward... and with most of them leaving after next summer - the future scares this Mean Greener. The thought of having another Hurley or another BOR like the one from the 90's (when we half-assed our way back to IA) scares the crap out of me.

I think what he was trying to say is that the fee mentioned has an expiration date of like 2011. It really wouldn't turn too many heads to just continue to charge that fee as a "facilities improvement fee" and then bond out the stadium with those future funds through a BOR loan. Problem that I see is that under Pohl, that might have been slipped through. Who knows which jackass Lee Jackson will pressure the Board to push through for the new Prez. Also, our "athletic friendly" Board of Regents will all be expiring their terms next summer. About the time that Pohl's contract expires. Coincidence? I think not. I think Pohl knows the direction that this whole mess is going with Lee Jackson at the helm. We have three magical pieces to our puzzle of success - Pohl, RV, and the BOR. We are losing Pohl, we lose the BOR (if they are not replaced with a similarly enthusiastic pro-athletic group), and we all know that RV is trying to hold his breath on as much of this as possible - but we also know that he has applied for about 3 or 4 lateral move jobs in the last 2 years. I think that these guys know that they had one shot at it and it is coming to a close. We need a really good season. I don't see us ever reverting BACK; but I want us to continue to rumble forward as we have been and we have to start assembling a new puzzle for that to happen. The old (and current one) will be gone by next summer.

Dang, now I really feel smart! I posted my prediction for Movie Gallery to be the new sponsor in another thread about 5 minutes ago and now I just read Mark's hint that I was right. Makes complete sense since they are breaking into the DFW market.

I am going to guess that it is Movie Gallery. They took a dip into the bowl climate last year and probably liked the attention they received from the SVFC. Also, they are starting to make their way into the DFW area. I have seen about 4 stores pop up over the last year and before that there were none (that I knew of). Their only competition is Blockbuster and most people do not like Blockbuster these days. With the "end of late fees" thing, the movies rarely getreturned on time and you can almost never find a decent new release when you go in there. On the weekends it is impossible, not even worth the gaoline to drive up there and look around - the shelves are bare and the ones that they do have are overpriced. That being said, I love their online rental program. I have been a subsriber for about a year now and have never had any problems. Movies ship fast and get here in a day because the distribution center is just up the highway. New releases are usually available and they have all those hard to find "tv shows on DVD" that you can never find at the stores. So I think Blockbusters future lies with the online rental program and that leaves a nice area of opportunity for Movie Gallery to move into the DFW area and become a high quality "old fashioned" movie rental store, where you can actually get the movies you want at a good price, keep them a few days and get them back so that the next guy can rent them as well. I can see Movie Gallery being the Ft Worth Bowl sponsor and that giving the Sun Belt a 2nd bowl tie in due to their excellent relationship with Troy University. I don't think it will be Mattress Mac, he already tried out the bowl bmarket with the Houston Bowl and pulled out when the money didn't justify the results. Plus I would think that Mac would have pre-empted it by getting a few stores opened in the area before he thre money into a bowl game for Fort Worth... but then again, you never know. Maybe Mac is wanting to move into the DFW area and this would be his "I want to be involved in the community" type of announcement.

Agreed, the Eagle has grown on me a little but the light green just looks way too "soft"... we are supposed to be the MEAN Green, not the light green.

Ok, one more more time - coaches cannot vote for their own team. Another Sun Belt coach (I think Andy Mack has a vote as does Ricky Bustle) will probably vote for us because it makes their win/loss to us mean more for their strength of schedule - and also because what is good for North Texas is good for the Belt - which in turn is good for their schools in a roundabout way. But I see these claims every year that Dickey is the one guy votnig for us and that is just not possible from everything that I have read. We will see this year for sure as the votes will be made public for the first time in the history of the Coach's poll.

Seriously, look how much better the sightlines are without that huge crown in the field. I never realized how much a difference it made - but Fouts really looks a lot better with a FLAT field and dark green "grass like" turf. I think that watching a game at Fouts this year will be the best ever... and I am not joking around about that, I really think that the action will seem much closer with the new layout. I also think that it will look a hell of a lot better on National TV when ESPN rolls into town for the Troy Trojans game.

I wanted to talk about this as well. I have already gotten the plastic ware for it through work. I just added to our last order and paid for it myself - so that is one expense that we do not have to worry about. I have 200 10 inch plates and 200 7 inch plates all ready to go. The heavy duty kind. I also got a case of paper towells to go along with it and will try to budget for forks and knives by the time the BBQ rolls around. About $35.00 bucks worth of BBQ ready plasticware and towells from this Greenbacker, every little bit helps. If we need ice then I can get as much as we need. There is an On the Border in Denton now and I will just call them up and tell them that I want to come raid their ice machine for the day. That will save us probably another $30-$40 bucks in itself. Just let me know. -steve

Wow, the removal of the crown has really made Fouts a flat field. I think we will have MUCH better sightlines this year; regardless of the track. Thanks for the link, looks like the endzone is complete and they are working their way towards the 10 yard line.

Why? You probably can't get this one - Sept. 3 North Texas at LSU (tape delay) CST/TBA But you can get these: Sept. 10 North Texas at Middle Tennessee ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. Oct. 4 Troy at North Texas ESPN2/6:30 p.m. Nov. 5 Louisiana-Lafayette at North Texas ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. plus games always get picked up during the season... and then there is the bowl game... Here is the full Sun Belt schedule: 2005 Sun Belt Television Schedule Date Game Network/Time Sept. 1 N.W. State (LA) at Louisiana-Monroe CST/TBA Sept. 3 UL Lafayette at Texas FSN/6:00 p.m. Sept. 3 Florida Atlantic at Kansas ESPN Regional/6:00 p.m. Sept. 3 Middle Tennessee at Alabama (tape delay) CST/TBA Sept. 3 North Texas at LSU (tape delay) CST/TBA Sept. 8 Oklahoma State at Florida Atlantic ESPN/6:30 p.m. Sept. 10 North Texas at Middle Tennessee ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. Sept. 17 Florida Atlantic at Minnesota ESPN Regional/TBA Sept. 22 Louisiana-Monroe at Florida Atlantic ESPNU/6:30 p.m. Sept. 24 Florida International at Arkansas State ESPN+Plus/2:30 p.m. Oct. 1 Florida Atlantic at Louisville TBA/TBA Oct. 4 Troy at North Texas ESPN2/6:30 p.m. Oct. 6 Florida Atlantic at Louisiana-Lafayette ESPN+Plus/6:30 p.m. Oct. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas State ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. Oct. 15 Troy at Louisiana-Monroe ESPNU/2:30 p.m. Oct. 20 Florida International at Troy ESPNU/6:30 p.m. Oct. 22 Florida Atlantic at Arkansas State ESPN Regional/TBA Nov. 5 Louisiana-Lafayette at North Texas ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. Nov. 5 Florida Atlantic at Troy ESPN Regional/TBA Nov. 12 Florida International at UL Lafayette CSS/TBA Nov. 12 Troy at Arkansas State ESPNU/6:00 p.m. Nov. 19 Louisiana-Lafayette at Louisiana-Monroe ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. Nov. 19 Arkansas State at Army ESPNU Nov. 26 Middle Tennessee at Troy ESPNU/6:00 p.m. Schedule subject to change All times central CSS – Comcast Charter Sports Southeast CST – Cox Sports Television FSN - Fox Sports Net

My how our little conference has grown - check out all the freaking TV games. 2005 Sun Belt Television Schedule Date Game Network/Time Sept. 1 N.W. State (LA) at Louisiana-Monroe CST/TBA Sept. 3 UL Lafayette at Texas FSN/6:00 p.m. Sept. 3 Florida Atlantic at Kansas ESPN Regional/6:00 p.m. Sept. 3 Middle Tennessee at Alabama (tape delay) CST/TBA Sept. 3 North Texas at LSU (tape delay) CST/TBA Sept. 8 Oklahoma State at Florida Atlantic ESPN/6:30 p.m. Sept. 10 North Texas at Middle Tennessee ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. Sept. 17 Florida Atlantic at Minnesota ESPN Regional/TBA Sept. 22 Louisiana-Monroe at Florida Atlantic ESPNU/6:30 p.m. Sept. 24 Florida International at Arkansas State ESPN+Plus/2:30 p.m. Oct. 1 Florida Atlantic at Louisville TBA/TBA Oct. 4 Troy at North Texas ESPN2/6:30 p.m. Oct. 6 Florida Atlantic at Louisiana-Lafayette ESPN+Plus/6:30 p.m. Oct. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas State ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. Oct. 15 Troy at Louisiana-Monroe ESPNU/2:30 p.m. Oct. 20 Florida International at Troy ESPNU/6:30 p.m. Oct. 22 Florida Atlantic at Arkansas State ESPN Regional/TBA Nov. 5 Louisiana-Lafayette at North Texas ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. Nov. 5 Florida Atlantic at Troy ESPN Regional/TBA Nov. 12 Florida International at UL Lafayette CSS/TBA Nov. 12 Troy at Arkansas State ESPNU/6:00 p.m. Nov. 19 Louisiana-Lafayette at Louisiana-Monroe ESPN+Plus/6:00 p.m. Nov. 19 Arkansas State at Army ESPNU Nov. 26 Middle Tennessee at Troy ESPNU/6:00 p.m. Schedule subject to change All times central CSS – Comcast Charter Sports Southeast CST – Cox Sports Television FSN - Fox Sports Net

Nah, they are just saying that normally the first two weeks of the season are filled with cream puff games (i.e. North Texas vs LSU) and this year there are a couple of hard hitting OOC games for some big schools. He didn't say that it was LSU's first game, just first hard game; and OOC to boot.

The house had been cleaned, the state had taken over, and the parents simply did not want to pay any more money. Because of that; their kids no longer have a high school or a team. Everyone agrees that WH was a corrupt system but most of those scandals were very small in scale. For instance, the principal and the super were having the maintenance guys do work on their houses while still on the clock.. big freaking deal - fire the guilty ones and move on. That probably happens at 90% of the schools in the state or even country. Another instance was where the school was given all new computers by Dell because a high percentage of their teachers attended a certain workshop. When I taught 6th grade in Dallas I did the same thing and got a new computer from Dell. Dell did this as a publicity campaign to get schools to switch over from their MAC's in the late 90's, early aughts. Well, what you had were a bunch of extra computers sitting around in storage rooms. Some teachers never learned how to use them, some classrooms were never equipped or upgraded to handle the network for internet; and the ones that were upgraded were on such a slow server that the computer would sit in the corner of the room collecting dust because it was so darn slow. In the investigation they found that many of these computers that were not in classrooms (even some of the brand new, never been opened donated computers) had dissapeared... the maintenance guys were blamed for this as well but I would be willing to bet that most of those computers (about 30 came up missing - half old MAC's, half new PC's) ended up in a variety of places - teacher's homes, administrator's homes, and maintenance guys' homes. Some of those were sold, some have never been accounted for. Again - BFD... it happens at every school in the country. As I am sure that any teacher that posts on here can attest to, this kind of stuff is never talkd about but always seems to happen... and it happens at every school, not just Wilmer Hutchins. The big problem with WH was that they chose a terrible contractor to renovate the condemned areas of the school. They did not do their research and in turn they got ripped off (and the job never got done properly)... when the inspectors came back to pull the red flags off of the buildings; they were still not up to code - all the money was gone, and they were condemned. At this point the state came in to rescue the school with a loan for about half the money to get the buildings back up to code. The school had to come up with the rest. Most of the teachers worked without pay for about half of last year; their checks weren't worth the paper that they were printed on... but they were on track to getting their school back... they just needed a little bit of money and a new school board to turn things around. The State attempted to take over and the board sued the State saying that it was none of their business. The State said that since they had to bail them out of a jam; they had a right to intervene... if WH had just let the State come in and work within their system - they would still have a school today... but they were too proud for that to happen. So the State let them fend for themselves after a judge sided with the school board members and this is the result. The final plea was to voters - begging their district citizens for some money to get them back on track for this year (it would be a 5 year tax hike - only temporary)... they voted it down and that is all she wrote. WH citizens have nobody to blame but themselves.

Well, they should have talked their parents into voting for the tax raise that would have allowed their school to stay open. Everyone wants something for free - especially in Dallas school systems; nobody wants to pay more for it. The taxpayers of WH had every opportunity to raise their prpoerty taxes in a special election to save their kids' school - they voted it down by a HEALTHY margin.

Last time we road tripped it and it was .... uhhh... well, fun for some! This time I will be much better behaved if anyone wants to put a road trip together. I think we had 3 vans last time and pretty much took over the only bar that was open that night in the Murf... Lots and lots of good times.

Ok, I guess I am an idiot - what is that flag of and what is a "bear" celebration?

In my opinion; Texas Stadium looks like a dump right now... it has for about the last 5 years. I can't believe that Jerry Jones hasn't even gone to the simple expense of repainting the roof of it to make it visually appealing to the eye from the road. To me it is ironic that the team has faded much like the paint on the stadium. There is nothing about driving by that big old hunk of steel that makes me want to rush out and go to a Cowboys game. The blue paint that wraps around the outside of the roof must be 15 years old and the fading really shows. To me, Texas Stadium is a bigger eyesore than Fouts Field from the highway. Then again, I cannot stand Jerry Jones or the Cowboys... in my opinion, that organization (and the way that they do business) sums up everything that is wrong with professional sports today. I realize that it is silly to put a lot of money into a stadium that will soon be bulldozed; but you have to do small things for reasons of pride and safety. In Fouts' case - we needed new turf for safety concerns... for Texas Stadium, a new coat of paint would go a LONG way for aesthetic reasons as well as bringing back a sense of Texas pride. Jones doesn't seem to give a damn. He just wants to buy championships and look the other way while his players are breaking all the morality and legal rules that they can get away with. Putting Michael Irvin in the Ring of Honor is a travesty; he shouldn't be honored for a damn thing. His name and antics tarnished not only the Cowboys; but the entire NFL. When I think of the Playmaker - I don't think of his "on the field" accomplishments - I think of the "off the field" problems. For a little while he seemed to be repeneting and making good on building a new life for his family.. but at a recent Bachelor Party, a very good friend of mine saw old Irvin up to his old ways at the Lodge. Combine that with his holier than thou attitude that he put that charity in California through recently and I am confident that Irvin learned absolutely ZERO from his mistakes of the past. Now he will be put into the Cowboy's Ring of Honor - an honor that most NFL experts/fans believe is harder to get into then the actual NFL Hall of Fame.... Of course Jones will sell a few extra tickets for that day; but he will taint the sacred Ring at the same time. I hope he is happy while counting his gate money from the day; knowing fair well that Tex is turning over in his grave over the whole circus like occasion.

This article really bags on ULM and gives props to ULM... Nice publicity for ASU... Thanks to ArkStFan on the Belt Board for this tidbit...

That same rule could alllow the MWC to grab a #6 (BCS ranked) Boise and leapfrog the Big East once the time is appropriate. It wouldn't make any difference this year - but 2008 is right around the corner. Don't get me wrong, I think the big boys will change the rules AGAIN if that happens... but if the MWC was smart; they would snag Boise or Fresno now and prepare to sue.

All Div I conferences are now BCS. The MWC stands the best chance of stealig the Big East's auto bid but I am sure that the BE will find a way to get around that anyways.

I completely agree about the tenure situation. Someone had to finally take a stand against the rubber stamping that was going on with tenures at NT. I know a couple of posters had some of their favorite professors that were denied tenure and for that I am sorry - but there are MANY factors associated with tenure... including research, publications, retention rates, and intangibles (getting along with other staff - tardiness, pay, etc... yes, a professor's job is just like any other job)... tenured professors should not just be "cool" and "popular"... It was time to take a stand and Pohl was the first to have the balls to do it. Perhaps he knew that he was on his way out and wanted to make one last stand... if so, I applaud him for (hopefully) changing the tenure process. Professors should earn tenure, it should not be a reward for sticking around for a little while.

Well, if you REALLY want to get something accomplished then "yes" - you have to alienate one group. Look at the list of accomplishments that Pohl has under his name... out of all of those is there even one that has an emphasis in the arts or music departments? It was all business, engineering, and sports to Pohl... God Bless him. Perhaps these 7 years will never be able to be reversed but I am terrified of his replacement being a moderate that tries to please everyone and in the end pleases nobody at all.

Ok, play devil's advocate... say we were a sports minded school with excellent (top 10) business programs... and all of the sudden a President comes along that wants to shift all the focus to cutting from those business programs, enhancing the arts and music programs, etc, etc... Dr Pohl scared a lot of old nesters in Denton. He was our salvation but we are the minority (hate to break it to you)... I imagine that a middle of the road "moderate" will be brought in next... he won't kill the program but won't push to get it through to the next level either.