Is Playing As An Independent an Option?

[TCC Mean Green]

I know most people would not like us to play as an independent but would that be better than playing in CUSA?  
 

Or, create a regional conference?  Just curious, any opinions?

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

I hate this conference but going independent is not better. Notre Dame makes it work because they have a massive following and are a brand name. NMSU went independent because their program was hemmoraging money. 

I prefer regional conference alignments better than going indy. 

[El Paso Eagle]

If the G5's, well at least CUSA and SBC don't at least explore the opportunity to mix and match team for a more regional approach they are crazy. What little money there is in the G5 will probably be shrinking. We need to reduce cost.

[meangreenbob]

In football sure. We don’t win conference championships anyway. 😂

[NorthTexasWeLove]

This is a bad take on this forum. Most are against the idea. I, for one, am for it. FSU wouldn't be where they are today without doing it. They recruited their way to relevance due to their ability to sell their schedule. Sure, it was brutal early. However, they started winning games because kids wanted the opportunity to, 1) stay close to home while 2) play a schedule filled with big time opponents (granted most were on the road)  

OR... 

We can't continue to chooooose the kiddie pool for what? A 300k conference payout a year via "TV money". 

Nah, I'm good. Give me the former. 

 

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

[Cooke County Kid]

When I started NTSU we were in the Missouri Valley Conference.  When I graduated we were an independent.  If we had stayed where we were, we would be in the AAC now..............

GO MEAN GREEN

WIN GAMES!!!!!!

[RBP79]

Just move forward from where we are at now.

Guess FSU used NTSU as a stepping stone 

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc272165/

[Wag Tag]

Regional competition goes back to the same advantages fill your stadium ($) , save on travel, allow alumni to drive, and create regional competition. If you associated with SBC you could create a per Conf Championship and then have a game for a combine Championship. $ To continue to play schools on the east coast has got to stop! GMG 

[greenjoe]

The Florida State game is even more significant when you consider they were brought in as a homecoming opponent.  I would submit that the day of the game, NTSU was a bigger national name than was FSU.

[untjim1995]

Independence is just really tough in today’s world if you aren’t a name program. Conference games are just easier for scheduling purposes and for bowl slots.

The roughest thing UNT deals with is the fact that we are stuck at the bottom of the DFW college football pecking order. Thus, we can’t ever move upward without the two privates moving upward first. 
 

Ive been on this side of the argument for many years now, but the SBCUSA has to either geographically reorganize or it needs to bust. There is absolutely no reason UTEP and Texas State aren’t in a conference together, same with Appy State and Old Dominion, same with ULL and La Tech. Their fans care about each other, not some team from the Eastern Time Zone. If much rather place Texas State than Charlotte or F_U. And they feel the exact same way about playing North Texas, too.

[meangreen11]

7 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

Independence is just really tough in today’s world if you aren’t a name program. Conference games are just easier for scheduling purposes and for bowl slots.

The roughest thing UNT deals with is the fact that we are stuck at the bottom of the DFW college football pecking order. Thus, we can’t ever move upward without the two privates moving upward first. 
 

Ive been on this side of the argument for many years now, but the SBCUSA has to either geographically reorganize or it needs to bust. There is absolutely no reason UTEP and Texas State aren’t in a conference together, same with Appy State and Old Dominion, same with ULL and La Tech. Their fans care about each other, not some team from the Eastern Time Zone. If much rather place Texas State than Charlotte or F_U. And they feel the exact same way about playing North Texas, too.

I agree with some of what you say but not all.  If being private is so good why do Texas and A&M fare better than the private schools?  Seems to me being public schools is not necessarily a hindrance.

[wardly]

So how is being independent working out for New Mexico State? In fact, how did it work out for UNT when Fry took us out of the MVC?

[UNT86]

No.

Been there, done that, remember the t-shirts.

 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

3 hours ago, meangreen11 said:

I agree with some of what you say but not all.  If being private is so good why do Texas and A&M fare better than the private schools?  Seems to me being public schools is not necessarily a hindrance.

Because, economics. 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

3 hours ago, UNT86 said:

No.

Been there, done that, remember the t-shirts.

 

Not all paths are the same. Perhaps similar, but not the same. 

[greenminer]

Just a hunch, but I suspect being an Indy now is even harder than it was for teams 30+ years ago.

[UNT 04]

I might be for it If we were always X conference champions but it seems like we get a new coach and we have success for a couple of years then we go down hill and here comes a new coach....... But I’m with you I would love to get the hell out of CUSA but at the moment I don’t know what good it would do since we are not able to claim top dog in this dumpster fire of a conference.

[wardly]

In the next few years when TV contracts with conferences expire their probably will be some realignment. However, if the amount of money available for P5 school is less then it could be non existent for G5 programs which should create more regionalization . If less is coming in then less needs to go out. However, as a member of the worst division in the worst G5 conference I don't have any idea what our options, if any, might be.

[ttunt1970]

Wardly 

I agree about $ when contracts renew will be substantially lower, I disagreed with Coach Fry pulling totally out of the MVC for all sports the Independent Route back then  for football but it gutted the rest of the sports. Fry was counting on The Independence Bowl that quote unquote was set for independent teams because others mostly had conference hookups(gentlemen’s agreements). It made filling out a schedule in football next to impossible for everyone when teams started conference play(exceptions Notre Dame) and that’s why Penn State got into. Big 10 . So no I’m not for playing as an independent.

[ttunt1970]

Should’ve read disagreed especially for other sports but he was counting on the INDY for football 

[El Paso Eagle]

1 hour ago, UNT 04 said:

I might be for it If we were always X conference champions but it seems like we get a new coach and we have success for a couple of years then we go down hill and here comes a new coach....... But I’m with you I would love to get the hell out of CUSA but at the moment I don’t know what good it would do since we are not able to claim top dog in this dumpster fire of a conference.

Not that many years ago most were wanting to get the hell out of the Sun Belt. Now with their Leadership they are arguably a better conference than we are.

And NO - Independent is not a way to go. Stop right there!

We need to continue to build our programs to the point where we are considered an "asset" to a better conference.

[wardly]

On 11/12/2020 at 5:30 PM, ttunt1970 said:

Wardly 

I agree about $ when contracts renew will be substantially lower, I disagreed with Coach Fry pulling totally out of the MVC for all sports the Independent Route back then  for football but it gutted the rest of the sports. Fry was counting on The Independence Bowl that quote unquote was set for independent teams because others mostly had conference hookups(gentlemen’s agreements). It made filling out a schedule in football next to impossible for everyone when teams started conference play(exceptions Notre Dame) and that’s why Penn State got into. Big 10 . So no I’m not for playing as an independent.

In 5 years playing as an independent we played 10 P5 games , [4 to Mississippi  State, 3 to Oklahoma Sate] and lost 8 .Scheduling was a real problem. Most of the teams we played were either MVC, schools in the region, or for some reason SDSU and Long Beach. Today even the Fighting Irish play 7 ACC  games annually. The only independent D1 program that chooses to remain independent is Army. NMSU, Liberty, U. Mass, and U. Conn. are wandering in the desert.

[TheTastyGreek]

On 11/12/2020 at 6:18 PM, El Paso Eagle said:

Not that many years ago most were wanting to get the hell out of the Sun Belt.

Building on here... It's the damndest coincidence, isn't it? 

Once upon a time, we were in The Worst Conference in college football. It was holding us back. Never mind that we couldn't even post a winning record against conference opponents for the last EIGHT YEARS we spent in The Worst Conference... One of the main reasons we couldn't move our program forward was our affiliation with that conference. We had to get out. 

Then, we got out! Regional rivalries, Texas opponents, historically greater reputation. FINALLY! And... Now, we're once again in The Worst Conference in college football! And, we've never won it. And, more times than not, we can't even post a winning record against conference opponents in The Worst Conference. Again! 

Meanwhile, the conference we left behind got better, and the programs they brought up from the minor leagues (which had a history of success and an institutional commitment to maintaining it that went beyond "THROW ALL THE MONEY AT THE HEAD COACH!") are doing quite well!

It's almost like maybe our biggest problems aren't and never were the conference at all. Maybe... We're part of the conference's problem, and not the other way around. 

And maybe the REAL Worst Conference is actually the friends we made along the way? I don't know. I think that when there was one set of footsteps, Matt Simon was carrying me. 

[97and03]

2 hours ago, TheTastyGreek said:

Building on here... It's the damndest coincidence, isn't it? 

Once upon a time, we were in The Worst Conference in college football. It was holding us back. Never mind that we couldn't even post a winning record against conference opponents for the last EIGHT YEARS we spent in The Worst Conference... One of the main reasons we couldn't move our program forward was our affiliation with that conference. We had to get out. 

Then, we got out! Regional rivalries, Texas opponents, historically greater reputation. FINALLY! And... Now, we're once again in The Worst Conference in college football! And, we've never won it. And, more times than not, we can't even post a winning record against conference opponents in The Worst Conference. Again! 

Meanwhile, the conference we left behind got better, and the programs they brought up from the minor leagues (which had a history of success and an institutional commitment to maintaining it that went beyond "THROW ALL THE MONEY AT THE HEAD COACH!") are doing quite well!

It's almost like maybe our biggest problems aren't and never were the conference at all. Maybe... We're part of the conference's problem, and not the other way around. 

And maybe the REAL Worst Conference is actually the friends we made along the way? I don't know. I think that when there was one set of footsteps, Matt Simon was carrying me.