Mack Brown to chair UTRGV’s football feasibility study committee

[Greenrex]

 

“This is a very important and exciting time for UTRGV [The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley]. As we work on our strategic and master plans, it is important that we examine all aspects of our future. This is an ideal time for our university to explore the possibility of bringing college football to the Rio Grande Valley.”

http://www.utrgv.edu/en-us/about-utrgv/news/press-releases/2016/february-19-mack-brown-to-chair-utrgvs-football-feasibility-study-committee/index.htm

The article made no mention of C-USA membership.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Greenrex

[untjim1995]

Apogee opponent sometime in the 2020's...

[EagleMBA]

That is a long row to hoe, unless there is lots of milk available from the UT tit. Still, I wish them every success because I know the people of the Rio Grande Valley would support the football team. It has been talked about for many, many years but this is the first time I have become aware of any action.

For the record, that institution is where I earned my B.B.A. and I served as president of the alumni association there for a couple of years in the distant past. Originally from Indiana, I managed to live more than 10% of my life to date in that area. Those are good folks down there.

Prediction: They will not be putting in an appearance at Apogee in my lifetime.

[HarringtonFishSmeller]

Futbol is very popular in the RGV, I'm sure; but, what does Mack Brown know about it?

Edited February 19, 2016 by HarringtonFishSmeller

[EagleMBA]

19 minutes ago, HarringtonFishSmeller said:

Futbol is very popular in the RGV, I'm sure; but, what does Mack Brown know about it?

THAT futbol is definitely the most popular in the Valley, but the other kind has a large following. Friday night rules there, just like our part of the state. Some of the homegrown players have been pretty good, too, but are not associated with the area because they all had to leave to display their talents beyond high school. Since Edinburg is 225 miles south of San Antonio, the Valley is almost an island.

[Texas Stranger]

Well, at least UTSA would have an actual rival

[bstnsportsfan3]

RV on the phone in 3...2...1...

Edited February 20, 2016 by bstnsportsfan3

[Mike Jackson]

Why not University of South Texas?  Or just Rio Grand University?

[UNTexas]

9 hours ago, Mike Jackson said:

Why not University of South Texas?  Or just Rio Grand University?

Or Universidad de Norte Tamaulipas? UNT vs UNT, now that could be our nemesis. 

Edited February 20, 2016 by UNTexas

[Army of Dad]

8 hours ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

RV on the phone in 3...2...1...

No doubt some sort of scheduling foul up will be their fault eventually.

[UTSA Fan]

10 hours ago, Texas Stranger said:

Well, at least UTSA would have an actual rival

UTSA will not have a rival for awhile. You have to have 1. A history 2. Of competitive angst between teams. 5 years allows for neither of the 2.

Edited February 20, 2016 by UTSA Fan

[EagleMBA]

12 hours ago, Mike Jackson said:

Why not University of South Texas?  Or just Rio Grand University?

Like us and many others, there have been name changes over the years. I cannot fathom why people won't just leave it alone after a few iterations. The name history there is long and I won't go into it for fear of boring people. The name and even the mascot has been changed so many times in a relatively short span of years that it is hard to identify with it anymore. The real turmoil began when the University of Texas System got their hands on it.

[Mike Jackson]

1 hour ago, EagleMBA said:

Like us and many others, there have been name changes over the years. I cannot fathom why people won't just leave it alone after a few iterations. The name history there is long and I won't go into it for fear of boring people. The name and even the mascot has been changed so many times in a relatively short span of years that it is hard to identify with it anymore. The real turmoil began when the University of Texas System got their hands on it.

Agreed.  But I always feel the shortest name possible to identify the university the better.  For any program considering scheduling UTRGV the name would be a deterrent because it ready made for those "Sisters of the Poor" scheduling jokes.

[EagleMBA]

50 minutes ago, Mike Jackson said:

Agreed.  But I always feel the shortest name possible to identify the university the better.  For any program considering scheduling UTRGV the name would be a deterrent because it ready made for those "Sisters of the Poor" scheduling jokes.

I agree. I think that schools that end up with monikers like that have administrations that pander to many diverse constituencies in an effort to please them all. Sort of an elephant designed by a committee. As far as I am concerned, it will always be Pan American.

[VideoEagle]

5 hours ago, EagleMBA said:

 

I grew up in Edinburg and my dad went to Edinburg Junior College before going on to UT in 37 or 38. I'm told the Math department was considered very rigorous in the 50s. By the time I finished high school in the 70s it was a full university. They have the dubious distinction of being thrown out of the Sunbelt after being on NCAA probation and trying to use the excuse of probation to do something to save money the 'Belt would not allow. I think that was in the 90s sometime. 

UTRGV really is a school built by committee as a shotgun merger of UT Brownsville which was extremely weak in everything and Pan Am in Edinburg. Imagine merging two schools with very different histories located roughly 60 miles apart. Pan Am was the Brocos but now seem to have become the Vaqueros. I guess the administration is hoping for football to bring the two schools more together. 

[EagleMBA]

50 minutes ago, VideoEagle said:

I grew up in Edinburg and my dad went to Edinburg Junior College before going on to UT in 37 or 38. I'm told the Math department was considered very rigorous in the 50s. By the time I finished high school in the 70s it was a full university. They have the dubious distinction of being thrown out of the Sunbelt after being on NCAA probation and trying to use the excuse of probation to do something to save money the 'Belt would not allow. I think that was in the 90s sometime. 

UTRGV really is a school built by committee as a shotgun merger of UT Brownsville which was extremely weak in everything and Pan Am in Edinburg. Imagine merging two schools with very different histories located roughly 60 miles apart. Pan Am was the Brocos but now seem to have become the Vaqueros. I guess the administration is hoping for football to bring the two schools more together. 

I have lived in Edinburg, Harlingen and McAllen in the past. I came across the country to enroll in the noted "Astroscience" program they had in the 60s. That rigorous math department and too many trips to Reynosa made me see that I was better suited to business administration. Pan American went 10 - 2 over three years in the NAIA basketball tournament, winning one national championship and making another championship game while I was there. Being from Indiana, I appreciated good basketball. I lived in the dorm with the jocks, including Lucious Jackson; we called him "Big Jack". I once saw him absolutely destroy Jim "Bad News" Barnes in a head-to-head matchup when nationally-ranked Texas Western (now UTEP) came to Edinburg and lost. He was an Olympic gold medal winner in '64 at Tokyo and the fourth overall pick in the NBA draft by Philadelphia. We were the Broncs!!

Don't get me started...too many memories of what good basketball looks like.

P.S. UNT has won 4 and lost 7 all-time against the Broncs; they kicked our ass with regularity in the 70s and 80s, at least two years I saw were home and away losses, and they mysteriously disappeared from UNT's schedule.  Hmmmm.

Edited February 21, 2016 by EagleMBA

[pastorgrant]

4 hours ago, EagleMBA said:

I agree. I think that schools that end up with monikers like that have administrations that pander to many diverse constituencies in an effort to please them all. Sort of an elephant designed by a committee. As far as I am concerned, it will always be Pan American.

My brother almost played basketball for them. He really enjoyed the visit, but didn't like Brownsville too much.

Edited February 21, 2016 by pastorgrant

[EagleMBA]

37 minutes ago, pastorgrant said:

My brother almost played basketball for them. He really enjoyed the visit, but didn't like Brownsville too much.

You must have Edinburg and Brownsville confused. Brownsville is a pit...to put it nicely. Edinburg is good old ranch country with lots of citrus groves and vegetable fields in the area. Edinburg is where the big dog is; Brownsville was a satellite campus started on the grounds of Texas Southmost College (JC). In the day, it was referred to as "Texas Almost". If he passed on Pan American-Brownsville he made a wise choice. UTPA at Edinburg is where the administrators were.

[pastorgrant]

3 minutes ago, EagleMBA said:

You must have Edinburg and Brownsville confused. Brownsville is a pit...to put it nicely. Edinburg is good old ranch country with lots of citrus groves and vegetable fields in the area. Edinburg is where the big dog is; Brownsville was a satellite campus started on the grounds of Texas Southmost College (JC). In the day, it was referred to as "Texas Almost". If he passed on Pan American-Brownsville he made a wise choice. UTPA at Edinburg is where the administrators were.

It is probably me who is confused. It was UTPA that offered him, but I thought he visited Brownsville while there. Are they close?

[EagleMBA]

Just now, pastorgrant said:

It is probably me who is confused. It was UTPA that offered him, but I thought he visited Brownsville while there. Are they close?

Sixty miles, mas o menos, as I recall, by freeway. Brownsville is right up on the coast with the border right there (Matamoros). Of course, that makes it just that much closer to South Padre Island. Edinburg is inland, just north of McAllen and not far from Mission. My car was usually on autopilot but I think it was about 17 miles or so to Reynosa. It has been too many years since I've been back and now you have me thinking about it.

I will say that it is definitely different than life in other parts of the country and he would either like the "feel" or not, PDQ.

[VideoEagle]

I was in high school while Abe Lemons was the Pan Am coach. They had some great teams back then and Lemons always had a great quote in the paper. He could do a lot with limited resources but never had a consistent winner after he went to UT. Another example of a winning coach not being able to transfer his success. 

As for Renosa, a yes, I knew it well, even in high school. It was fairly safe back then. When I was at NT, as friends would talk about the first time taking the car without parents permission, or staying out all night, I'd mention the first time I left the country without my parents permission. It was amazing that so few people in Denton could grasp the idea that it was just under 30 from a bar in Mexico to my bed at home. Wouldn't dream of going accross today. 

[EagleMBA]

1 hour ago, VideoEagle said:

I was in high school while Abe Lemons was the Pan Am coach. They had some great teams back then and Lemons always had a great quote in the paper. He could do a lot with limited resources but never had a consistent winner after he went to UT. Another example of a winning coach not being able to transfer his success. 

As for Renosa, a yes, I knew it well, even in high school. It was fairly safe back then. When I was at NT, as friends would talk about the first time taking the car without parents permission, or staying out all night, I'd mention the first time I left the country without my parents permission. It was amazing that so few people in Denton could grasp the idea that it was just under 30 from a bar in Mexico to my bed at home. Wouldn't dream of going accross today. 

I remember Abe well. My favorite was him talking about changing the game by recruiting midgets and scoring by dropping the ball through a hole at each end of the floor. Sam Williams was the coach when I was in school and he was superb. We used to hang out at the Lion's Den in Reynosa, where they had a music group called George Garza and the Lion's Den Trio. George played piano and sang ala Ray Charles...dead on. We hired him to play for some of our fraternity parties.

[Greenrex]

Wow! This is getting ready for page two and no SMU hate.

 

[UTSA Fan]

SMU is crap. I think I got it on page 1.

Why is Mac Brown leading this thing noteworthy? It appears to be a figurehead position.

[EagleMBA]

46 minutes ago, UTSA Fan said:

SMU is crap. I think I got it on page 1.

Why is Mac Brown leading this thing noteworthy? It appears to be a figurehead position.

No, I think you got it on your shoe. :) But, SMU is also crap.

I wondered about Brown too. My quick guess was he is probably networking the UT System to pick up a few gigs for beer money in the broadcasting offseason.  JMO.

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by EagleMBA