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"...During homecoming weekend I took the time to get a pulse of the program through several boosters, former players, and current coaches. I will start with the boosters. One booster told me this: Studies on coaching have been conducted on coaches who take over both good and bad teams. For coaches taking over bad teams, if they were able to turn the program around before or at year three, the coaching hire was considered a success. For the coaches taking over successful programs, if the coach continued having success through year 3, the coaching hire was considered a success. I directly asked him what that meant concerning Bill Blankenship and he said BB has one more year to turn the program around according to discussions that have already begun about a possible successor. He also said this: We are pumping a lot of money into the basketball program and we have used money from football revenue to offset some of those cost. Projected loss of income from the basketball program was anticipated this year but not from football. The athletic program will likely have an overall financial loss this years and if BB were fired, it would be largely because we can't afford to loose!" Read more: http://tulsa.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1774&tid=168285857&mid=168285857&sid=1115&style=2

With all of the rumors and high hopes surrounding the return of baseball to North Texas, it could be viewed as a little premature to start planning out the next athletic facility improvement. Obviously, most North Texas fans are thrilled about the prospect of adding a new baseball facility in the Eagle Village Athletic complex. And the fact that the athletic department - with big help from our sainted donor Ernie Kuehne - was able to build the new basketball practice facility in such short order - was a big feather in their cap. I was not one who thought an indoor football and athletic practice facility was a priority at North Texas. Sure, it would be a nice recruiting tool and knowing that Arkansas State is putting an 11 million dollar facility in place makes you think it must be pretty important to them. ASU is not a program that has a lot of T. Boone Pickens at their disposal. But is it really necessary to spend so much money on the convenience of having an indoor practice facility? I mean, maybe in the northwest where snow and inclimate weather was an issue you could make a case. But this is Texas. It seems to me that UNT Coach Dan McCarney does just fine even in the heat by scheduling practices early in the morning and late in the day. Read more:

Dan McCarney - "This league is loaded with real talented head coaches. Real successful guys, you look at the resumes and their pedigree and they're really a great lineup of coaches...We're [uNT] just lucky to be there because we know there's lot of teams that would rather be in our shoes... We just hope we can be a factor in the race. We're in the process of trying to restore some dignity, some respect to North Texas football that's been missing for a long time. Bill Blankenship on who Tulsa is looking for in a player - "We're looking for the same player that the service academies are looking for but we don't require the same 4 year commitment after they graduate. They're not all Eagle scouts but we think leadership is important. And then they have to have the athletic ability to be able to play at a high level. We have 23 players out of the last 3 recruiting classes who turned down scholarships from the Big 12, Big 10 SEC etc. We're at a place we've identified that if you and your family value a great education in a smaller size student body where everyone can put a face to a name we can offer you that." C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky on the sabre rattling from the BCS institutions for NCAA changes: "I think the issue is how do you deal with the issues of the day - together. There's issues around how you deal with the student athletes financial package, there's issues with the safety of the game and players health which should be of the highest priority, we have financial sustainability issues in the long run and in the short we have issues of too much commercialization. It seems to me that we addressed conference realignment and now the [NCAA] system needs realignment now. read more:

“I do know, we’re getting more comparable in the way we appear,” Blankenship said. “We’re some bigger kids, faster kids.” * Entry into the new American Athletic Conference in 2014 should be good for Tulsa. Many of the same faces from Conference USA, but some of the sleepy southern schools have been replaced by Cincinnati, Connecticut and South Florida. “Conference USA has been great for us,” Blankenship said. But C-USA changed. Coming into the league are North Texas, Louisiana Tech, Texas-San Antonio, Florida International, Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee. “There’s a big difference, going to Orlando (Central Florida) and New Orleans (Tulane) and Memphis, then we’re going to Ruston (La.) and wherever. From a recruiting standpoint, it was a big deal.” Actually, the new C-USA members come from some big markets. Miami, Dallas, San Antone, Nashville. But the caliber of competition will be better in the new conference. Blankenship said conference upheaval really doesn’t affect players. And on the recruiting end, the effect is “probably moreso with parents,” he said. “The best thing I can do is help our team win. I just want us to grow.” * Tulsa went 11-3 last season. Lost at Iowa State 38-23, lost 19-15 at Arkansas and lost 35-27 at SMU. “Five or six plays (difference), we could have been in the Orange Bowl,” Blankenship said. “Five or six or the other way, we could have been in no bowl.” Don’t laugh. He’s right. Northern Illinois made the Orange Bowl with a 12-1 record and a weaker schedule. And TU did skate by with some narrow wins: 27-26 over Fresno State, 49-42 over Alabama-Birmingham, 45-38 at Marshall, 28-24 over Rice, 23-21 and 33-27 in overtime against Central Florida. Read more: http://blog.newsok.com/berrytramel/2013/04/09/tulsa-football-more-from-bill-blankenship/

read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/TU/article.aspx?subjectid=94&articleid=20120429_94_B1_Tulsaa192225