LaTech AD scheduled too ambitiously?

10Eagle10 · May 22, 2015

Louisiana Tech had 3 SEC West games scheduled for 2016 and their AD decided that might be a little too tough so they dropped two to add UMass and Texas Tech.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/sports/college/la-tech/2015/05/20/la-tech-shuffles-schedule-get-sec-west/27694417/

The 2016 football schedule Louisiana Tech athletic director Tommy McClelland inherited back in 2013 could have allowed the Bulldogs to petition for a one-year membership into the Southeastern Conference Western Division.With a few contract changes and the help from a fellow athletic director,

Tech swapped a potential non-conference gauntlet of Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Arkansas to Texas Tech, Arkansas and UMass."We were in the SEC West essentially when I first took over the job," McClelland told The News-Star on Wednesday. "My first reaction was I gotta provide our team the opportunity to be competitive. That's just brutal."It might not have the same firepower Tech now has three road games and still needs to add an FCS home game for 2016 but once the details are digested, McClelland said it made the most sense.

Wish we could land a competitive game with Tech. The way I read the release on their website seemed to indicate that Texas Tech might be making the trip to Ruston...

"In arranging the schedule this way I am trying to find an ideal balance between having a schedule in which our team can be competitive in but one that also addresses our financial needs," said McClelland. "I also want to schedule opponents that will play key match-ups at home in Ruston and this will help us achieve that in future years."

http://www.latechsports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/052115aaa.html

Edited May 22, 2015 by 10Eagle10

greenit · May 22, 2015

So, a five game home schedule with only an FCS team at home. Interesting.

Army of Dad · May 22, 2015

They already know that Driscoll can't play (well) against SEC defenses so...

emmitt01 · May 23, 2015

Wait...they dropped games to pick up a game with Tech? Texas Tech? The Texas Tech that's in the Big XII? Home or away, that's a better game than anything we're scheduling.

KRAM1 · May 23, 2015

Wait...they dropped games to pick up a game with Tech? Texas Tech? The Texas Tech that's in the Big XII? Home or away, that's a better game than anything we're scheduling.

Tennessee? Iowa?

emmitt01 · May 23, 2015

Tennessee? Iowa?

Yes, those are games that get North TEXAS fans' blood going. Real water cooler talk there. And they're such attractive road trips.

But there is a bright side. A LOOOOOONG off-season of "did you know Mac used to coach in Iowa?" stories. And all the old folks around here talking ad nauseum about that one time we beat Tennessee. Yippee!!

Edited May 23, 2015 by emmitt01

DallasGreen · May 23, 2015

Yes, those are games that get North TEXAS fans' blood going. Real water cooler talk there. And they're such attractive road trips.
But there is a bright side. A LOOOOOONG off-season of "did you know Mac used to coach in Iowa?" stories. And all the old folks around here talking ad nauseum about that one time we beat Tennessee. Yippee!!

Tenn. and IA games are strictly " body bag " money makers! Will never again attend one of these. We can' t do a 1-1 because we can't make the guarantee with the little"d" deadbeats. Schedule a game like this for the third week of the State Fair in the Cotton a Bowl and you will get a 1 for 1 otherwise Houston, Okie State, or TT are only wishful thinking with 4K season ticket holders you can not take the chance on bringing anything but a MAC or MWC to Apogee!

KRAM1 · May 23, 2015

Fry didn't think Tennessee nor Texas were body bag games! But, you don't think Okie State wouldn't turn into a body bag game in the Cotton Bowl? Why folks want to schedule games against teams where UNT would be big underdogs and the stadium filled with visiting team fans turning it into a UNT home "away" game is just beyond me. I prefer the lines of Navy, Air Force! Army, SMU, Vanderbilt, New Mexico, etc. teams that folks know, but also teams that give UNT a fair shot at a win not a big time upset. Right now I might add Houston and Texas Tech in that group as well as Army, Navy, etc.

But, different strokes for different folks. It's just when bowl time comes a win over SMU during the season helps much more than a loss to Okie State. Just me. If others prefer the odds be against UNT for home games, so be it.

Ben Gooding · May 23, 2015

I get what you're saying and its valid, but Apogee needs more Indiana's in an every other year format rather than a 1/5 or 6 or even 7 years. We need to get P5's into Apogee on a relatively consistent basis regardless of how bad the P5's are. But I get we need to also play our peers, which to me we are. I like the Army/SMwho series. I even like the FCS format of playing a bad team in Apogee (granted not for freaking homecoming). What I don't like is us allowing this AD to throw us into 2 body bag games to reel in some extra cash before this Army series gets kicked off in 2016. That was bad practice and any excuse for that is inexcusable. But, I really like the Army and SMU series. Both match ups gain the attention from the casuals and that is a good thing. I wish we could stray from the every year body bag game. Every other year or 1/3 years or something.

greenit · May 23, 2015

So, Latech had scheduled 3 body bag games for 2016 and then decided they better ONLY play 2?

I thought UNT was the only program to schedule more than 1 bodybag game and schedule 5 home game seasons? At least that is what I remember reading somewhere.

Edited May 23, 2015 by greenit

10Eagle10 · May 23, 2015

So, Latech had scheduled 3 body bag games for 2016 and then decided they better ONLY play 1?

FIFY. Texas Tech is not a "bodybag" game. That's the very definition of an "opportunity". If going to Lubbock is a "bodybag" then I welcome our ad to schedule a visit asap

Ibleedgreen · May 23, 2015

Texas Tech quit scheduling us after we beat them two out of three games in the 90's.

greenit · May 24, 2015

FIFY. Texas Tech is not a "bodybag" game. That's the very definition of an "opportunity". If going to Lubbock is a "bodybag" then I welcome our ad to schedule a visit asap

I won't use the other term that gets thrown around. They are being paid $800k to bring their team to Lubuttocks, take their money, and go back to Ruston.

Mean Green Matt · May 24, 2015

Tennessee? Iowa?

I don't have an issue with Tennessee at all, but considering Iowa is an absurd 2 for 0, I don't think that should ever be used as a positive argument for our scheduling.

97and03 · May 25, 2015

I don't have an issue with Tennessee at all, but considering Iowa is an absurd 2 for 0, I don't think that should ever be used as a positive argument for our scheduling.

I don't get why folks insist on saying it is a 2 for 0 series. I get that it feels that way, but really it is just two separate body bag games in non-consecutive years.

Ben Gooding · May 25, 2015

Its a 2 for 0.

greenit · May 25, 2015

Right. And Tennessee is a 1 for 0. And Texas was a 1 for 0. And Latech is playing Ttech in a 1 for 0.

BillySee58 · May 25, 2015

I wish we could've gotten them in a return game, but it's not a bad deal when you consider how much they're paying us.

What makes it a bad deal is that we have two body-bag games in the same year. That, plus being away in a home-and-home series in the same year gives us 3 non-conference away games, hence the 5-game home schedule.

Army of Dad · May 25, 2015

I don't get why folks insist on saying it is a 2 for 0 series. I get that it feels that way, but really it is just two separate body bag games in non-consecutive years.

Weren't both games contracted for at the same time? If so, then I think you can call it a 2 for 0.

VideoEagle · May 25, 2015

Weren't both games contracted for at the same time? If so, then I think you can call it a 2 for 0.

As I understand it, they were not originally discussed at the same time. But while to contract and dates were going back and forth, the second game came up. I think they completed the deal for one game, then started working on dates for the second. I could be remembering wrong!

Eagle1855 · May 26, 2015

Tech doesn't want to play UNT. This shouldn't be interpreted as Tech being afraid to play UNT. Rather, they just see no value in it and indicated as much following our last two for one series with them in the late 90s/early2000s.

untjim1995 · May 26, 2015

Tech doesn't want to play UNT. This shouldn't be interpreted as Tech being afraid to play UNT. Rather, they just see no value in it and indicated as much following our last two for one series with them in the late 90s/early2000s.

This.

Plus, they play Baylor in DFW every year, not to mention a trip to Ft. Worth every other year to play TCU. Tech and Baylor have no need to play us here in Denton anytime soon, same with the even bigger regional P5s, Texas, OU, A&M, and Arkansas.

BUt I'd be on the phone with T. Boone to talk to him about a series with Okie State. Make it a 3 for 2 series, with OSU alternating home games on seasons where they travel to Ft. Worth, just so they can get a road game in DFW every year, which is huge for both recruiting and their alumni base. If Okie State won't do it, call Kansas or K-State about doing the same thing. Hell, MIzzou and Colorado don't even play anywhere near DFW anymore--I'd be willing to bet they would be interested in coming to a hotbed of recruiting for a game or two.

All that said, this is a pipedream. We are playing SMU, Army, and a spare FCS team here in Denton for the next 10 years in OOC play. By the time a P5 could be scheduled to play here, they probably won't even be playing G5s or FCS teams anymore.

UNTFan23 · May 26, 2015

BUt I'd be on the phone with T. Boone to talk to him about a series with Okie State. Make it a 3 for 2 series, with OSU alternating home games on seasons where they travel to Ft. Worth, just so they can get a road game in DFW every year, which is huge for both recruiting and their alumni base. If Okie State won't do it, call Kansas or K-State about doing the same thing. Hell, MIzzou and Colorado don't even play anywhere near DFW anymore--I'd be willing to bet they would be interested in coming to a hotbed of recruiting for a game or two.

We played the Buffs back in the early to mid 2000s in a one-and-done game. That was well before TCU was in the Big 12 meaning the closest they got to DFW was Waco. What has changed that would have them wanting to come to DFW to play NT?

I think people over sell the importance of games as a means for recruiting.

untjim1995 · May 26, 2015

Colorado was also pretty good back then--they didn't need tro consider a series with UNT that was outside of a whore game in Boulder. Now that they are absolutely terrible, with no more game at all in Texas, where they were knonw to get recruits back in those days that got them division and conference championships in the old Big XII, I'd suspect that they could be sold on the merit of playing here. Of course, SMU and UH probably have more appeal to them, but you watch and see them schedule a series with UTSA--then watch as we ask ourselves (again) why UTSA can schedule these teams and we cannot. Obviously, San Antonio is a major tourist destination adn the Alamodome holds a lot of people, as compared to Denton and Apogee. but I still think its at least worth the call. If they say no, tell the media and fans exactly what they said as to why they wouldn't come play here. That alone would go a long way into making alot of us feel like we are actually trying to get a series against a P5 team that DFW fans would be interested in going out to Apogee and watching with their UNT neighbors and friends. It certainly would be easier to get people there than scheduling Northern Colorado, an FCS team that I'm certain will end up in Denton in the years to come.

Ben Gooding · May 26, 2015

I agree that people put too much weight in games as a means of recruiting.

I also agree that the athletic department needs to be far more forthcoming of why there is no interest to get teams in here, also forthcoming on many other fronts in general.