Chrisattsu

DoubleTNation is reporting that Leach has been fired from Texas Tech

It looks like Texas Monthly is getting into this thing. http://www.texasmonthly.com/2010-01-01/webextra.php The author takes a pro-Leach stance. On top of that, the fans (the comments) seem to overwhelmingly support the Captain

As someone who grew up in Iowa, Iowa State makes no sense. The Big Ten started as an academic conference and its academic reputation is as important as the athletic reputation. All of the public schools in the conference (Indiana, Ohio State, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, MSU, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Penn State) are considered Public Ivies. The only other schools are Northwestern and Purdue (neither of which are academic slouches). Iowa State is nowhere near that list. That being said, Rutgers and Pitt are both on this list (so fit the academic bar and provide additional media markets). Athletically, Iowa State has struggled for recognition in the Hawkeye State. Even if they moved into the Big 10, I question if Iowa State would ever garner the recognition that the University of Iowa has throughout the state. Additionally, Western Iowa is Big Eight country. ISU has played against the Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma schools for years. It would be strange to divorce themselves from that group of schools.

I am afraid of the can of worms this might open up, but as an outsider to UNT football history/culture, can you rehash some of those issues in list form. The only thing that I know about is the Black Jersey thing, which someone defended on the Sam messageboard. They said that the black jerseys were a deal between Dickey and the players from earlier that season. It was something the players wanted.

North Alabama beat Alabama too...

me too. The only thing that makes me smile, is that everytime I see Georgia Southern, I am reminded of our playoff game against them where we scored 27 unanswered points in the 4th Quarter to win the first playoff game of our 2005 run

Stebo, Thank you for your comments and concerns. Football / Attendance - In answer to your first question, our stadium currently holds just short of 16,000 people. The Westside Complex facade was completed in time for Saturday's game. It features luxury suites and a bar/club level for donors interested in the investment. This is phase one of a four phase project to increase to the stadium to between 35 - 40,000. Phase 2 should be completed in the next 4 years depending a couple of things. First it involves bowling in the North endzone which will require removing the track, and creating a new T/F complex. We will have to secure funding (and a location for the new Track complex) for both of these projects before the completion date can be confirmed. After Phase 2, our stadium should hold just over 27,000 spectators. Would I have liked a sell-out? Absolutely. However, it was a holiday weekend against a D2 opponent, and none of the sororities were able to attend because of recruitment, yet we managed to get 88% of capacity. I think that we will see more fans coming out for the next home game (Sept 26th) because Greek recruitment will be over, people had a great time last time, we go three weeks without a homegame in SM, and we are playing Texas Southern (who will bring their band). Is 11,000 progress? I would like to think so. Should a university with 30,000 students and 3.5 Millions people living within 60 miles be able to recruit more than 11,000 fans? No doubt. However, people like to feel good, and follow winning programs. SWT was able to sellout their stadium in the 1980s because they were winning games. Then we hit a twenty-year skid, where we only won a handful of games. New coaches brought in new systems lasted a couple of years, and then the carousel started again. I think Texas State is fixing to turn the corner in a new era based on what I am seeing on/around campus. The name change brought a different kind of student to campus. Since changing the name from Southwest to Texas State, the total number of applications has increased, and based on these figures we have become the third most popular choice in the state behind UT and A&M. This allows us to pick better students. These students choose the university for what it offers rather than just coming here because close to Austin and they eventual plan to transfer to UT. The students have taken pride in their school, and began to demand better (especially in Athletics). This new generation of student is fostering the foundations that we will need to succeed in FBS. I am not sure if we will ever be able to win back the HornCats or BobAgs, but we can start here and now. The recent alumni who were here for 2005's Semi Final run remember a positive experience with our athletic program. They want to build on this, and they are starting to come back as alumni. The increased notoriety has people looking to donate to the university in other avenues. In the past couple of years, we have had large donations to fund the Business school, Engineering programs, fine arts. We started as a teachers college, but we are finally starting to see alumni from other fields reaching the reflective period of their life where they are able to give back to their Alma Mater. Basketball - My comments on the other board about 700 people was slightly exaggerated. Since 2005, we have averaged 1356 (05/06), 1200 (06/07), 2099 (07/08), and 1544 (0809). I admit that 1,500 hundred is not good for our basketball program, considering North Texas is pulling 2100 in 05/06 and 06/07. You guys have stepped it up to 3,000 in 07/08 and 08/09. I guess an NCAA tourney invite does that for you. We are rebuilding the basketball program currently. Dennis Nutt drove our program into the ground winning 3 games in 2005/2006. He was allowed to finish out his contract before we hired the 'Wunderkind' Doug Davalos. His uptempo game would be entertaining if our players didn't get in foul trouble all the time. He has teams have won more games year after year, but he is in year 4 of his contract, and if you don't prove something this year then the rumors say we will be out. Texas State understands that basketball is KEY to conference invites in Division 1. Hopefully by the time the Moratorium clears, we have won a conference tourney title and we get a NCAA-bid, but I suspect that is wishful thinking. Could we meet the requirements? I think so. Talking to the old timers, these students are doing things that are unheard of at this university. They already increased the athletic fee to make it happen, started new traditions and created a Brainwashing CatCamp (like TAMU Fish Camp) to hook students. If they can instill pride in incoming students, and get the place rocking, I don't see why people won't get pumped to come out. Would people attend FAU / FIU ? Honest question, do people at North Texas get excited about FAU / FIU? You play the games that are on your schedule. Would we rather play a more regional team (or another Texas team)? Absolutely. As a fan, your job is to support the team regardless if it is Florida Atlantic, Florida A&M, or UFlorida. USA draws 27,000. I say that is an exciting time to be a Jagfan. University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio just started their D2 football team this season. Their stadium holds likes 3500 and they had 6500 on hand to see the opening. I expect that UTSA and Lamar draw a big number of fans for their first games, and if UTA ever revived their program people would come out in droves to support it. The newness factor will help, but lets see how USA does 5 games into their season or 5 seasons into their program. What is Texas State missing? They are missing a clean slate / newness factor. We have fans that remember the National Championships, but we also have 20 years worth of alumni who remember failure. Why would the Belt to split money? Splitting money is a hot issue. Texas State brings the fifth largest University in the State of Texas which receives media coverage in two of the top 25 media markets in the country. We would provide an instate rivalry for UNT, another western team for ASU, LaLa, LaMo, and another recruiting trip to Texas for the rest of the belt. Our women have won the Commissioners cup 9 years in a row. Our women's soccer, volleyball, w basketball, baseball, softball, golf, and track/field have all made the NCAA playoffs in the past 5 years (in some cases multiple times). In my article, I mention that it is not just about improving our football team, it is about improving all of our athletic programs. We already compete against these conferences in the sports listed, and given the chance I would like to think that we would be able to succeed over the course of the season (and into the post season). Home for FCS move ups. I can understand how you would want to shake that image. Nobody wants to be viewed as the bottom-rung of anything. However, you have to look somewhere when the topic of expansion comes up. The Big East looked at Conference USA, the WAC looked at SBC schools, The SBC looked at SLC, The SLC looked at Lone Star Conference Schools. The LSC looks at ASC/NAIA schools (please note that I am not saying that the WAC is better than the SBC. They simply took NMST, Idaho and Utah State(?) from the SBC). It is just part of the natural evolution. In the end, it is all about making your conference better, getting more teams in the post season, getting more positive press in the media. Playing at Fouts. I look forward to playing UNT. Truth be told, I would much rather play y'all than TCU you this year.

Here are some images from last Saturday's home opener.

I wrote the following article for this month's Bobcatfans Magazine in an attempt to encourage our fans to consider the Sun Belt, and posted it on the NCAABBS board. There seems to be mixed thoughts about Texas State joining the Belt on the NCAABBS board. Some in your fanbase would welcome a Texas conference-mate, while others see us another suck on the Texas recruiting pool. Thoughts?

Texas State had fireworks after our game last night, and I loved it. However, I could not help but think, 'What if we lose? Boy would that suck'.

That is really classy. Major Kudos for that.

CONGRATS Mean Green! Way to go

http://www.gomeangreen.com/wordpress09/wor...ss/?page_id=132

Yes

I heard about the gospel of Yuengling a couple of years ago. Then during a trip to Virginia, I had the opportunity to try it. It is a very good beer. It really is too bad that you cannot find it in Texas, but I'll live.

Lone Star. Locally brewed, and until a couple of years ago, I could go to a party and nobody would take my beer. Being in San Marcos, I toob the river the after work sometimes. In those instances, A 32-oz Miller High Life is the way to go, you get them at the hobo-friendly price of $1.49

I don't a beer nazi, but "Fireman's #4" is an American Blonde not a Pale. Rio Blanco and Full Moon Rye are Real's pales. Then again, there is Lost Gold (the IPA) and Anniversary XIII (the Belgian PA). I drink lots of Real. Every place around here has their stuff on tap, and they offer free Brewery tours every Friday (which is a nice way to wind down the work week). What I wish, is that I could get some "Rahr and Sons" down here. I enjoyed the Stormcloud, Blind Salamander, and Winter last time I was in Fort Worth.

It is good. It is really good with BBQ. Basically they took Shiner 99 (the Helles) and ran it through a mesquite smoking process. To the best of my knowledge it is serving as a replacement to the Kolsch / Summerstock beer from the past.

It looks really good. Honestly, I like that the website doesn't 'caw' at me when I go to it. I would forget to to turn my speakers down at work, and get some dirty looks when it made the noise.

They are selling them around San Marcos right now.

I am not going to lie, I really wasn't paying much attention to the title of the thread. My brain saw "TD...First Radio Interview ... 12-1" and all I could like to myself is Damn, he is very optimistic!

Why are you guys playing Cameron? There are several D2 schools that are closer, and would bring more fans. Why not bring in Texas State? Our team pretty much sucks, so you will get a D1 win out of it.

Wow.. Just wow.. Ok, I get it, that was a slap in the face.

Good for you. To use one of my aggie friend's quotes -- BTHO A&M What do you bet that the Ags will honor Pearl Harbor before the game?

What do you guys mean about DD's black uniforms was a slap in the face of all NT fans?