SUN BELT #1 G5 Conference.

[Arkstfan]

Just now, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Not good. They just have to win, but we know how that goes over there.  I like Monroe, their campus and their little stadium. It's a shame. 

Two FBS and one FCS that close together in a pretty economically weak area doesn't help.

[wardly]

9 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Not good. They just have to win, but we know how that goes over there.  I like Monroe, their campus and their little stadium. It's a shame. 

ULM will be forced to drop back to 1AA. I don't see how they have lasted this long in D1.

[Mike Jackson]

10 hours ago, greenminer said:

I think the frustrating thing for me personally - maybe for everyone that graduated around my time - is the "culture" excuse.

We've been hearing it for decades and - I get it - it has been a significant part of Denton/UNT pastime.  But how much longer? It was an excuse 20 years ago.  It was an excuse 10 years ago.  Now, we have surrounded our athletes with facilities and staff that rival and/or exceed 8/10 opponents on our schedule. And we are 5+ years into this.  What hurdles are left? What do we have to do to put this behind us?  IMO, we should be past the point of using it as an excuse to keep coaches as long as we have.  

It can take generations to change culture, but if the athletes are all setup and isolated from that culture so that they can excel, it shouldn't be an excuse, right?

When “overcoming that culture” is used a reason to give a mediocre coach multiple extensions and raises when was already the highest or (top 3) paid coaches in the conference that leadership/donor mindset will NEVER “overcome the culture”.   With the resources UNT has a head coach should never get a raise on top of an already top of the conference salary without winning a conference title (or a bowl game in football).  A change in culture would have resulted in SL being fired after that bowl game.  I don’t care what the budget says when they are charging $6 for a soda which is price on par with Cowboys AT&T stadium.   And the facilities were a recruiting issue but not preventing us from winning.   Not every FBS G5 program doing better than us on the field has better facilities.  It was always a loser argument for fans and underperforming coaches.  (And when it was the most valid and impactful they fired Dickey for being salty about it).  🤷🏽‍♂️

[RBP79]

Georgia Southern beats Nebraska 45-43...

Agree..SBC top G5 this week

 

[rcade]

This weekend keeps getting better for a conference we used to call "the lowly Sun Belt."

ESPN College GameDay will take place at App State next Saturday.

[UNTcrazy727]

17 hours ago, wardly said:

What a hoot! We left the SBC for a better conference, CUSA. Its' members left CUSA for AAC and we ended up in a watered down CUSA ranked below the SBC which we just left. Now we are in the AAC who loses its top three programs and will be ranked below the SBC. You just have to admire the leadership of the Belt. CUSA, not so much.

Would you leave the AAC for the Sun Belt? The answer is hell no. 

[Pavlovs Eagle]

2 hours ago, Mike Jackson said:

And the facilities were a recruiting issue but not preventing us from winning.   Not every FBS G5 program doing better than us on the field has better facilities.

We are in the upper 10% of G5 facilities. Our fanbase and Athletic Department hacks act like we haven't played in Sunbelt and CUSA for decades and played at some awful facilities that are still in use today.  Their recent loudest complaint about the weight room, valid or not, is just another excuse for lack of performance & leadership among the coaching staff.

[Arkstfan]

9 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Would you leave the AAC for the Sun Belt? The answer is hell no. 

To be fair the only way you'd be considered is if we added a team to the east and needed someone to balance that and giving TXST a closer opponent was considered important. Otherwise far more likely Sun Belt needing a team in the west would be looking at someone like Missouri State or Western Kentucky.

Sun Belt has added one pro market team (Georgia State) and that was because they were ready to roll during a numbers crisis. Last vacancy was less urgent and the Sun Belt pursued Coastal Carolina who hadn't applied over a number of schools that had applied.

UNT doesn't fit the type of situation the league presidents want. 

You shouldn't want to be in a conference where you don't fit in. You never know when the carousel will stop spinning and membership becomes home for a half century.

[meangreenbob]

I bet the AAC wishes they could replace North Texas with Marshall. 
 

[greenminer]

13 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

In 1978, Hayden Fry had a ranked team that went 9-2 on the field. We went into the last game of the season with a home game at Fouts, knowing bowl officials were coming to see us play. Back then, there were very few bowls, so this was a big deal. We got about 10k for that home game—to end a season that was to go 9-2. 
 

The bowl committee decided to invite someone else, someone with a fanbase that would show up to care about their team. Hayden Fry, rightfully, left for Iowa after this.

The culture here has been awful since the early 70s, when the student body actually voted to abandon the program. Denton and North Texas (State) are just a combo that goes against the grain. Athletics will never matter here—because the culture won’t let it.

Jim, I always appreciate your views because you have so much more perspective than I.

But the "this is our reality and it is woeful" is such a big Debbie Downer.  I didn't get into sports fandom to accept mediocrity.  I didn't get into it to support UNT no matter what.  Although that is the case, sports fandom means so much more to me.  I got into it because I was in a community of hopefuls.  I think for most of us, sports is an escape.  A place where we can be ridiculous and hope that our community is just as good as our (conference and national) neighbors.

You seem wise and probably have thought of all this.  I've hung up my efforts to debate UNT with you.  I just want to say, I will never understand this view.  It's like you feel obligated to be the insufferable Eeyore walking around our episode of Winnie-the-Poo.  Who got into sports to do that? I know I didn't.

Go Mean Green

[UNTcrazy727]

35 minutes ago, meangreenbob said:

I bet the AAC wishes they could replace North Texas with Marshall. 
 

Lol no they don’t 

[greenminer]

13 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Culture to me is the most misused concept in college athletics.

It means absolutely nothing, if you have a good team than you must have a winning culture.   The opposite for a losing team.  

Building a winning program is what matters.   You both win and can praise the culture around the program.  Pure BS

Thank you!

If anyone still wants to believe it's culture, then you have to define what that means.  Don't try to explain a position with a term you can't define.

Is it facilities? we've taken care of that.
Is it quality coaches? We have the budget in place to tackle this.
Is it something the student-athletes are exposed to on breaks? Poisonous, Old-Dentonite minds that are running a Denton bar, and the student-athletes go there between football games?
Old-Denton media mouths that get regular air time?  I'm skeptical that that would be a factor.

[greenminer]

14 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

The bowl committee decided to invite someone else, someone with a fanbase that would show up to care about their team. Hayden Fry, rightfully, left for Iowa after this.

The culture here has been awful since the early 70s, when the student body actually voted to abandon the program. Denton and North Texas (State) are just a combo that goes against the grain. Athletics will never matter here—because the culture won’t let it.

Those committee members are no longer in charge.
The student body has been voting in favor of sports fees
We are nearly 30 years into our move back up to D1

An era that we have been trying to erase for decades.  If there are any more spots left on the table, let's get them cleaned off.

[Arkstfan]

1 hour ago, texx2818 said:

Exactly. I am Team Fun Belt but UNT doesn’t fit in in the least.

However, you’re delusional to think that if we asked to join up y’all would have said no.

If that gives you validation, sure. 
 

Memphis is the sum total of our AAC interest.  

Edited September 11, 2022 by Arkstfan

[Arkstfan]

5 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Thank you!

If anyone still wants to believe it's culture, then you have to define what that means.  Don't try to explain a position with a term you can't define.

Is it facilities? we've taken care of that.
Is it quality coaches? We have the budget in place to tackle this.
Is it something the student-athletes are exposed to on breaks? Poisonous, Old-Dentonite minds that are running a Denton bar, and the student-athletes go there between football games?
Old-Denton media mouths that get regular air time?  I'm skeptical that that would be a factor.

My definition of culture. Culture is what you see driving in the community. It’s what you see and hear when you go out to eat. It’s about your experience at a store. It’s about what you hear on the radio and see on TV. It’s what you hear on campus in classes and the halls when someone knows you are on the team. 
 

 

[greenminer]

2 minutes ago, Arkstfan said:

My definition of culture. Culture is what you see driving in the community. It’s what you see and hear when you go out to eat. It’s about your experience at a store. It’s about what you hear on the radio and see on TV. It’s what you hear on campus in classes and the halls when someone knows you are on the team. 

All of that makes sense.  And I think anyone on campus and in Denton right now knows it is not the same as it was 50 years ago.  If you live in Denton, and see to the contrary, speak up! I would love your view on things.

Is Denton perfect? No! Still lots of issues - for example the lack of UNT merch in the local stores.  But I haven't read about anything that can be used as an excuse to accept 0.500 seasons and continuous ass-whippings in big games.

We don't have students voting down sports anymore.  We don't require our football coach to act as AD at the same time, nor have the worst facilities in CFB.  Our current student body wasn't even born when we were called NTSU.  We have an AD who speaks annual at our freshman orientations.  We have a fantastic college town full of 20-somethings that wants UNT to be good.

[greenminer]

7 minutes ago, texx2818 said:

The student body and general citizens of Denton are not really much different than they’ve been despite what you hear. I live here. People here don’t really care, the city doesn’t really care, and the students barely do.

It's one thing to describe apathy, and quite another to say they are anything like 1970s Denton.  Old Denton was not just apathetic. they were anti-athletics.

How long have you lived in Denton?

[NorthTexasWeLove]

1 hour ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Would you leave the AAC for the Sun Belt? The answer is hell no. 

Why hell no? 

[wardly]

1 hour ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Would you leave the AAC for the Sun Belt? The answer is hell no. 

I am not suggesting that.My point was that the conference we left, the SBC, became better than the one we joined, CUSA. I think its great being in the AAC and it will finely give us a chance at an attractive  regional division that we should be able to compete in. SMU,UTSA,Rice,Tulane,Tulsa, and either Memphis or Navy . Again, for you youngsters back in the day both Tulsa and Memphis were conference mates in the MVC.

[rcade]

1 hour ago, greenminer said:

I didn't get into sports fandom to accept mediocrity.  I didn't get into it to support UNT no matter what.  Although that is the case, sports fandom means so much more to me.  I got into it because I was in a community of hopefuls.

Same. I'm here in the belief that someday Touchdown Jesus will forgive us and we'll win again.

[El Paso Eagle]

1 hour ago, texx2818 said:

The student body and general citizens of Denton are not really much different than they’ve been despite what you hear. I live here. People here don’t really care, the city doesn’t really care, and the students barely do.

I wonder how many X athletes stay in the Denton area after they graduate

[MeanGreen4Life1998]

Sun Belt has been great for a few years now but yeah its definitely the #1 Group of 5 conference. I wanted UNT in the SBC over the AAC to begin with but as long we leave CUSA idc where we go

[Dannymacfan]

19 minutes ago, MeanGreen4Life1998 said:

Sun Belt has been great for a few years now but yeah its definitely the #1 Group of 5 conference. I wanted UNT in the SBC over the AAC to begin with but as long we leave CUSA idc where we go

That’s just stupid.  They have ahead a good run but every single one of them would love to be in our shoes or in the AAC.  Their basketball sucks and they have declining enrollments and shitty academics.

[untjim1995]

9 hours ago, greenminer said:

Jim, I always appreciate your views because you have so much more perspective than I.

But the "this is our reality and it is woeful" is such a big Debbie Downer.  I didn't get into sports fandom to accept mediocrity.  I didn't get into it to support UNT no matter what.  Although that is the case, sports fandom means so much more to me.  I got into it because I was in a community of hopefuls.  I think for most of us, sports is an escape.  A place where we can be ridiculous and hope that our community is just as good as our (conference and national) neighbors.

You seem wise and probably have thought of all this.  I've hung up my efforts to debate UNT with you.  I just want to say, I will never understand this view.  It's like you feel obligated to be the insufferable Eeyore walking around our episode of Winnie-the-Poo.  Who got into sports to do that? I know I didn't.

Go Mean Green

You know, I’m a Rangers fan—my favorite pro team, along with the Cowboys in the NFL. I’m a UNT grad. IOW, sports in general has conditioned me for the last few decades to watch my teams get throttled, for various reasons. The Rangers can’t develop pitching, the Cowboys are owned by a clown, and the Mean Green are run by folks who either don’t know how to win or don’t care to win. My views are jaded and well-earned. As I often say, change my mind and make me see proof that something can and will change.

[MeanGreen4Life1998]

1 hour ago, Dannymacfan said:

That’s just stupid.  They have ahead a good run but every single one of them would love to be in our shoes or in the AAC.  Their basketball sucks and they have declining enrollments and shitty academics.

Thanks for the input lol. Very valued opinion