The New American

[ADLER]

4 minutes ago, southsideguy said:

instating counting teams I just took WS off for football.  Do we have a breakdown of the divisions?

That depends if Navy wants to remain in the western division. Temple would certainly prefer for them to be east members, and now they've adding another Carolina school and a Miami area school to that division.

[Salsa_Verde]

2 hours ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

We'll see if it changes by the time we get there.  🙂

I’m good with this. Don’t change 🤨

[Salsa_Verde]

2 hours ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

I doubt the Big 12 expands any more. One AD already said 14 doesn’t make sense financially or for travel. They are past the obvious teams for expansion now, Memphis and Boise have way more issues than the group headed to Big 12. 

Academics is a big issue. I know I know most people say who cares but people do care about this hahaha

[MGNation92]

Navy stays in the west because its better recruiting for them. They get more cadets from the area. It doesn't make sense geographically, but for school recruiting purposes you have a lot more southerners/Texans signing up than you would in the east

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

2 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

Navy stays in the west because its better recruiting for them. They get more cadets from the area. It doesn't make sense geographically, but for school recruiting purposes you have a lot more southerners/Texans signing up than you would in the east

I would rather not play Navy every year🤣🤣

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

28 minutes ago, ADLER said:

 Interesting post off the Pony board

 

 

Laughing my ass off at the comments. They hate being in a conference with us. Really hope the next football hire is a homerun and we start dominating them in football and basketball. 

[SilverEagle]

1 hour ago, keith said:

This is difficult to say, but entrance into the AAC would be the perfect time to rebrand ourselves (sports programs) as UNT leaving behind the stigma (real or perceived) of North Texas.  While we know, love and revere our North Texas moniker and history, outside of our bubble it carries a negative connotation.  It's painful to admit, but doing so is part of the healing process.  It's re-birth time and we need to leave the past behind as we forge ahead into a hopeful future.  

Hmmm, seems like I've heard that before. Seems like his initials were HF.  I know what he tried to do to change NT's "negative connotations/losing image" (one of them is still a popular logo). So tell me what your "re-birth" would look like.

[GrandGreen]

55 minutes ago, UNT Texas Hooligan said:

Laughing my ass off at the comments. They hate being in a conference with us. Really hope the next football hire is a homerun and we start dominating them in football and basketball. 

SMU has at best a delusional fan base.  A team that relies heavily on away fan attendance and is only relevant because of apparently an unending supply of money and a very tattered history. 

A few SMU fans think the new alignment is a good thing, but most believe the end is near.  They want a new conference, but who is going to take them that is any better than the AAC?

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

1 minute ago, GrandGreen said:

SMU has at best a delusional fan base.  A team that relies heavily on away fan attendance and is only relevant because of apparently an unending supply of money and a very tattered history. 

A few SMU fans think the new alignment is a good thing, but most believe the end is near.  They want a new conference, but who is going to take them that is any better than the AAC?

Exactly. Being in a conference with us will only double their attendance seeing as we fill their stadium every away game, anyway.  

[Big Z]

Everyone should be playing this song today!

 

[Stix]

49 minutes ago, Big Z said:

Everyone should be playing this song today!

 

I'm playing this:

 

[greenminer]

2 hours ago, keith said:

While we know, love and revere our North Texas moniker and history, outside of our bubble it carries a negative connotation.

If we're talking strictly about athletics, IMO, the problem we face is not negativity.  It is apathy.

[GrandGreen]

2 hours ago, keith said:

This is difficult to say, but entrance into the AAC would be the perfect time to rebrand ourselves (sports programs) as UNT leaving behind the stigma (real or perceived) of North Texas.  While we know, love and revere our North Texas moniker and history, outside of our bubble it carries a negative connotation.  It's painful to admit, but doing so is part of the healing process.  It's re-birth time and we need to leave the past behind as we forge ahead into a hopeful future.  

You are worried about NT's sports image when they are joining a league with SMU in it. 

You cannot change the past, but the future can quickly change an image. 

[DeepGreen]

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a group of smut "big time" donors money whip their way into the Mountain West Conference.

[keith]

1 hour ago, SilverEagle said:

Hmmm, seems like I've heard that before. Seems like his initials were HF.  I know what he tried to do to change NT's "negative connotations/losing image" (one of them is still a popular logo). So tell me what your "re-birth" would look like.

Not sure what it would look like, but as silly as it sounds it could be like a fresh start in the minds of the average Joe sports fan (if that matters).  Evidence suggests it's better to have little to no history as opposed to a negative history.  It's why you have fans of other conferences say that have no problem with UTSA or Texas St (they probably have no clue as to their Southwest Texas State University history) as conference mates, but throw up in their mouths a little at the mention of North Texas.  I know it hurts to hear, but it's the reality.  We've changed the name of our school, what, seven times?  Yeah, yeah, I know....and it's always had North in it.  So 'effing what?  We're going to stubbornly hang our collective futures on one word?  Thirty+ years later and those that should know better still refer to us as North Texas State or NTSU (not counting those who do it on purpose).  We're like an addict that refused to admit we have a problem.  

Like it or not we still suffer from the directional school image.  Central Florida and South Florida got away from it (in the sports world anyway) by presenting themselves as UCF and USF respectively.  It's time for us to do the same.

[Wag Tag]

9 minutes ago, DeepGreen said:

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a group of smut "big time" donors money whip their way into the Mountain West Conference.

Would that mean we would get a share of their $10m exit fee? GMG

[Wag Tag]

7 minutes ago, keith said:

Not sure what it would look like, but as silly as it sounds it could be like a fresh start in the minds of the average Joe sports fan (if that matters).  Evidence suggests it's better to have little to no history as opposed to a negative history.  It's why you have fans of other conferences say that have no problem with UTSA or Texas St (they probably have no clue as to their Southwest Texas State University history) as conference mates, but throw up in their mouths a little at the mention of North Texas.  I know it hurts to hear, but it's the reality.  We've changed the name of our school, what, seven times?  Yeah, yeah, I know....and it's always had North in it.  So 'effing what?  We're going to stubbornly hang our collective futures on one word?  Thirty+ years later and those that should know better still refer to us as North Texas State or NTSU (not counting those who do it on purpose).  We're like an addict that refused to admit we have a problem.  

Like it or not we still suffer from the directional school image.  Central Florida and South Florida got away from it (in the sports world anyway) by presenting themselves as UCF and USF respectively.  It's time for us to do the same.

Never forget being at Legacy West (shopping area) with my UNT cap on after the Arkansas game. The platitudes were off the hook. I had mentioned I was at the game and have to give a group of guys a play by play. Winning solves a lot of image issues.

[GrandGreen]

16 minutes ago, keith said:

Not sure what it would look like, but as silly as it sounds it could be like a fresh start in the minds of the average Joe sports fan (if that matters).  Evidence suggests it's better to have little to no history as opposed to a negative history.  It's why you have fans of other conferences say that have no problem with UTSA or Texas St (they probably have no clue as to their Southwest Texas State University history) as conference mates, but throw up in their mouths a little at the mention of North Texas.  I know it hurts to hear, but it's the reality.  We've changed the name of our school, what, seven times?  Yeah, yeah, I know....and it's always had North in it.  So 'effing what?  We're going to stubbornly hang our collective futures on one word?  Thirty+ years later and those that should know better still refer to us as North Texas State or NTSU (not counting those who do it on purpose).  We're like an addict that refused to admit we have a problem.  

Like it or not we still suffer from the directional school image.  Central Florida and South Florida got away from it (in the sports world anyway) by presenting themselves as UCF and USF respectively.  It's time for us to do the same.

Never heard of UNT

[keith]

2 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Never heard of UNT

Exactly!

[GBarksdale]

5 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Like it or not we still suffer from the directional school image.

I think we suffer more from losing.  Fix that and nobody will care whether we're North Texas or UNT.

[MDH]

2 minutes ago, GBarksdale said:

I think we suffer more from losing.  Fix that and nobody will care whether we're North Texas or UNT.

I think other directional schools having found success (UCF, USF) have helped shake the negativity towards this. Boise State, Fresno State, Coastal Carolina aren't exactly sexy land grant names either.

[kj86]

When would this realignment actually take place?  What season?

[MeanGreenTexan]

2 minutes ago, kj86 said:

When would this realignment actually take place?  What season?

Supposedly starting in Fall 2023 when Cincy, Houston & UCF leave:
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/college-football/conference-realignment-aac-to-reportedly-receive-applications-from-6-schools-this-week/

[Coach Andy Mac]

[keith]

7 minutes ago, GBarksdale said:

I think we suffer more from losing.  Fix that and nobody will care whether we're North Texas or UNT.

Yes we do and consistent winning will obviously help.  If we continue to be a perennial loser it won't matter how we refer to ourselves.  I just feel that on the new stage it will a shorter path for UNT than for North Texas, that's all.  These inflection points don't come around very often, I'm suggesting we take a look in the mirror and ask if there is anything else we can do and this would be easy.

Let me share a story.  I used to work for a large well-known, multi-brand hospitality chain with locations in 100 countries.  Our largest brand represented over 50% of our properties but was beginning to suffer image-wise domestically and lag behind some of our "fresher" brands.  What did we do to turn the brand around?  We took the top 20% of the properties and rebranded them as <brand name> Grand. We didn't change signage at the properties, we didn't change service at the properties, we didn't redesign or refurbish the properties (they were already in good shape), we didn't retrain thousands of associates, we didn't change anything about the properties or amenities at the properties.  We didn't do anything other than change the name of the properties on our web site by appending the word "Grand" to the brand name of the hotel.  A simple, one-time content change to the web site.  That was it.   

The result?  We were able to generate a 30% increase in the rate per room night at our "Grand" properties and improve guest loyalty and satisfaction across the entire brand.  Perception is reality and we changed the perception with a "project" that cost about $100 to implement.