League Expansions (off The Frog Board)

[Charlie NT 73]

I want NT to develop all athletics, build a quality FB stadium, and start winning in all sports.

Winning will bring the fans and $ support. Instead of NT chasing a conference, the conferences

will be chasing NT! Build it and they will come!

The whole DFW metroplex is growing, especially north of Big D. I can see NT becoming the

"Metroplex" team. With all of our fan base currently here in DFW, winning will start the ball

rolling and bring in the fans. I personally have met NT alumni that could care less about NT.

Guess what- the same folks are now very interested in NT athletics, since we have Coach

Dodge for football, and the success of Caoch Jones and our BB team. And, our new pres-

Dr B, the more I read about all the work she is accomplishing, pro-athletics, etc- the

more impressed I am. It all starts at the top!

[untjim1995]

SMU alone could not have kept us out of either the SWC or CUSA. They had to have help if either is true. It took three against to keep us from the SWC. Assuming SMU was one, who were the other two?

It is a known that SMU supported La Tech for the remaining CUSA slot. Their stated reason was that LT was a former conference mate. We don't know for sure whether their support was pro La Tech or anti North Texas and we may never know. But their support still didn't land Louisiana Tech in CUSA. That shows that can't do it alone.

As long as our hatred for SMU exists, I don't think that we'll ever have their help in getting in CUSA. If that is ever to happen we will need a lot of support. We don't have it and are not developing it.

Who would be our CUSA sponson? Unless we could get Southern Miss, I think that we are SOL. There are maybe two or three more that might get our vote if we had a new stadium and a couple of years of winning but I doubt that any would try to convince others to vote for us. On the other hand, is it possible that SMU could garner enough support to keep us out? We know that they are friends with Tulane, probably Rice and maybe Tulsa. I'm very skeptical that we could count on Houston. And, with the eastern teams against anyone west of the Mississippi, we don't stand a Chinaman's chance.

As distasteful as it is to some, our best chance, as Deep so aptly put it, is to start smoozing SMU. Dr. Bataille is charming enough that I think that she could pull it off but we'd have to muzzle about a dozen of our best alumni.

Thanks for your remarks about this. As you state, hatred will get us nowhere. I just wonder how much the folks in Dallas really want to have anything to do with us in the same conference. It really doesn't seem like a fit to me. It is my belief that the SBC will be our home for quite a long time--possibly for the next 5-10 years or more. I don't like that much, but I think it would take a huge shift in our reputation amongst other conferences to get us in CUSA or MWC anytime soon. But, that said, Coach Dodge will go a long way in helping us reach that goal.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---The other two were Baylor and TCU... from what I have heard SMU convinced them to vote against us on the argument that it would hurt all three of them to have a large state-supported school in the Metroplex to compete against for fans and recruiting.

--- Sorry... SMU still gets most of the blame on this one. For what it is worth, I don't think TCU's opinion of SMU is much better than ours as is a lot of the other former SWC schools. I haven't noticed any other university trashing us in the media and stating they they have the ONLY or best "whatever" academic program in the area. SMU seems to pretend we don't exist... However the 33,000 lb gorilla is getting bigger, more successful, and harder to ignore.

---SMU is becoming a has-been university (especially athletics) and I don't really think much about them. Even Dallas in general doesn't support them much anymore... just look at their fan support at their athletic events.... it has not always been that way but people have grown tired of their arrogance and their lack of success at much of anything. The cheating scandal and finally the breakup of the SWC has put put them in a slow tail-spin down. Even their cost has influenced many to not even consider going there and Dallas doesn't seem to identify with it very much anymore (other than alums). It just doesn't connect very well with most people in/near Dallas as it once did. On the other hand TCU is still embraced pretty well by Fort Worth even though it is also a private school...

-- "The Old Grey Mare Ain't What She used to Be".... and I doubt that she ever will be again.

Edited April 13, 2007 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

---The other two were Baylor and TCU... from what I have heard SMU convinced them to vote against us on the argument that it would hurt all three of them to have a large state-supported school in the Metroplex to compete against for fans and recruiting.

--- Sorry... SMU still gets most of the blame on this one. For what it is worth, I don't think TCU's opinion of SMU is much better than ours as is a lot of the other former SWC schools. I haven't noticed any other university trashing us in the media and stating they they have the ONLY or best "whatever" academic program in the area. SMU seems to pretend we don't exist... However the 33,000 lb gorilla is getting bigger, more successful, and harder to ignore.

---SMU is becoming a has-been university (especially athletics) and I don't really think much about them. Even Dallas in general doesn't support them much anymore... just look at their fan support at their athletic events.... it has not always been that way but people have grown tired of their arrogance and their lack of success at much of anything. The cheating scandal and finally the breakup of the SWC has put put them in a slow tail-spin down. Even their cost has influenced many to not even consider going there and Dallas doesn't seem to identify with it very much anymore (other than alums). It just doesn't connect very well with most people in/near Dallas as it once did. On the other hand TCU is still embraced pretty well by Fort Worth even though it is also a private school...

-- "The Old Grey Mare Ain't What She used to Be".... and I doubt that she ever will be again.

I disagree with a lot of what you say and I'm closer to the situation...I have a daughter on the SMU staff, read the local papers and befriend our church staff interns, who are all from SMU.

Let's say for a moment that everything that you say is true. Exactly where does that get us holding a thirty year grudge against some entity that could help get us in our conference of choice when the time comes?

SMU is not what it used to be and will never reach that pinnacle again, granted. Where they have been though is a national football champion, responsible for the building of the Cotton Bowl and later expansion (Doak Walker era) and has produced a number of football all-americas and all-pros. The death penalty pretty well assured all that SMU could not cheat to attain that stature again.

But, even if they are a has-been they can still be a factor in both getting us in or keeping us out of CUSA. They're in; we're out. It's that simple. We can sit around being bitter about something that happened thirty years ago that their current administration was not a part of and bad-mouthing them every chance we get or we can say that we didn't like what your university did to us so long ago but that is in the past and we need your help. Do our best to become friends. It would help our stature. Blessed are the peacemakers...that sort of thing. Or, we could continue to say screw you and see if they can get Tulane, Rice, Tulsa, Houston and the eastern group to see that we never get into CUSA.

The choice is ours.

[NT80]

I don't think SMU has "blacklisted" us, per se. They may not want us in their conference for recruiting purposes but ours is not like the Arkansas/Ark. State relationship where UA won't schedule them. SMU does play us in most non-rev sports and now football again, they realize it draws fans. UNT will have advantages over La Tech when a CUSA opening happens again which other (Eastern) CUSA schools appreciate regardless of SMU. Our location (Texas recruiting) and ease of travel (DFW airport) plus they would pair us with SMU for travel just like Houston/Rice. If we can get the new stadium started, we will have a good shot when Memphis or whoever leaves a CUSA vacancy.

Edited April 13, 2007 by NT80

[MeanGreen61]

Personally I don't think that SMU has a lot of power in CUSA. IMHO our actions/success will be the deciding factor. Good athletic programs (especially football & basketball), good facilities and good attendance are positives that would be hard to overlook.

[MeanGreen61]

This is a Q & A from Ask CFN. This would sure turn everything topsy turvy

QUESTION: What if the WAC and Mountain West combined to form "super conference" for BCS purposes only. Each league would remain as it is today, but at the end of the season, the champs of each league would play each other in a championship game. Good enough to earn a BCS auto-bid for the winner, or just another chance to knock a good mid-major out of the running? – Ed

ANSWER: The Mountain West would get the raw end of that stick. Stick perennial Mountain West also-ran Wyoming in the WAC and it probably finishes in the top three or four every year. Instead, I’d take the 18 teams combined in the two leagues, throw out six, and create a super-conference worthy of an automatic BCS bid. Imagine this for a 12-team league leaving out Air Force, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and Utah State.

NORTH:

Boise State

BYU

Colorado State

Fresno State

Utah

Wyoming

SOUTH:

Hawaii

Nevada

New Mexico

San Diego State

TCU

UNLV