Reason were in sunbelt

meangreen2012 · July 15, 2005

We are still in the sunbelt because of our other athletic programs, right? Im just wondering, thats the best excuse I could come up with when I was asked. I honestly believe UNT could compete in the WAC, CUSA, and maybe after a couple years in the Mountain West. But then again there was the Big West 5 years ago...

ADLER · July 15, 2005

We were in the the Big West 5 years ago, and helping start Sun Belt Football was clearly a better alternative for us.

What was the old WAC has largely become the Mountain West Conference, and what was the old Big West has largely become the Wester Athletic Conference. The WAC has some good programs, but the cost effective Sun Belt has enabled North Texas to build new facilities as well as regional rivalries.

The former SWC schools that were not invited to join the Big 12, with the exception of TCU, are in Conference USA and would provide even closer regional rivals along with Tulsa. If another CUSA spot were to become available, North Texas would be a likely candidate to be invited to join. And if a CUSA invitation does not become available, North Texas has done just fine in the Sun Belt and will continue to build it's programs.

FirefightnRick · July 15, 2005

The Belt was just what the doctor ordered for us. Now if all members including us mostly, could just help the Belt take the next step.

Rick

Green Lantern · July 15, 2005

The Belt was just what the doctor ordered for us. Now if all members including us mostly, could just help the Belt take the next step.
Rick

Gotta agree here. The Belt has been very good to us in it's short existence (meaning in football). I know that there are many perception problems with the Sunbelt, but all of our league teams are making strides every year. If NT and Troy continue to play at a high level and we can get another two teams ie. MTSU, ULL, ULM, and FAU to step up their game, we would have a nice competitive regional conference. If a scenario like this was to take place our league would be very much on par with the WAC, MAC, and new CUSA perception wise (with 3-4 nationally recognized programs at the top of the conference). Biggest key this year is to win our OCC games (Tulsa & La Tech especially) and hope that our conference mates can do the same in their OCC schedules.