It's Only Going To Get Tougher For The Wac To Play Up

Harry · June 30, 2010

Has it really come to this?

North Texas basically tells the Western Athletic Conference, "Don't call us, we'll call you."

http://www.staradvertiser.com/sports/20100630_Its_only_going_to_get_tougher_for_the_WAC_to_Play_Up.html

Arkstfan · June 30, 2010

Why does everyone keep acting like this is some shock given UNT and ULL said no thanks five years ago? The money doesn't work and the league is so small now it cannot reshape or reform in a meaningful manner if MWC makes a serious raid.

While CUSA hasn't produced a nationally ranked at the end of the season program since 2004, they have numbers and a large pool if raided.

DeepGreen · June 30, 2010

All it would take is for the MWC to pull in 1 or 2 more teams from the fragile WAC and that storied conference would be history.

Travis · June 30, 2010

This is one of several reasons why I don't understand who would actually want to consider going into this conference.

cdizzle86 · June 30, 2010

Maybe we can be one of those teams pulled from the WAC.

VideoEagle · June 30, 2010

Maybe we can be one of those teams pulled from the WAC.

From what keeps being written, it is going to be easier to be pulled from the Sun Belt. It looks like all the "prestige" is giving way to reality.

cdizzle86 · June 30, 2010

Maybe in about 7 years. Current reality is that a WAC school will probably get picked before a Sun Belt school. A conference can overcome financial woes, but may have a harder time beating perception.

Edited June 30, 2010 by cdizzle86

VideoEagle · June 30, 2010

A conference can overcome financial woes, but may have a harder time beating perception.

I know it been a while, but have you ever heard of Enron? Financial woes will dramatically alter perceptions.

cdizzle86 · June 30, 2010

I know it been a while, but have you ever heard of Enron? Financial woes will dramatically alter perceptions.

Enron had a little more working against them than just financial woes.

foutsrouts · June 30, 2010

Maybe we can be one of those teams pulled from the WAC.

Exactly. It would certainly take some good fortune, but if we could somehow put together a couple of very good seasons in the SBC/WAC, we might get some very serious consideration as the Froggies MWC partner. Don't see that as very likely coming straight out of the SBC. W's and attendance numbers are obviously very important from here on out. Dodge needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat THIS season.

cwb · June 30, 2010

Enron had a little more working against them than just financial woes.

Trickeration? Just like Boise. When the world realizes that they are cooking their playbooks, they are finished.

NT80 · June 30, 2010

Has it really come to this?

A little backhanded slap at North Texas' value?

UNTLifer · June 30, 2010

Exactly. It would certainly take some good fortune, but if we could somehow put together a couple of very good seasons in the SBC/WAC, we might get some very serious consideration as the Froggies MWC partner. Don't see that as very likely coming straight out of the SBC. W's and attendance numbers are obviously very important from here on out. Dodge needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat THIS season.

Or we could go to the WAC, Fresno St., Hawaii, etc.. go independent, the WAC folds and we are left without a conference home. The WAC is teetering on failure. Why jump on a sinking ship?

foutsrouts · June 30, 2010

Or we could go to the WAC, Fresno St., Hawaii, etc.. go independent, the WAC folds and we are left without a conference home. The WAC is teetering on failure. Why jump on a sinking ship?

I guess in that scenario we go independent ourselves, or we come back home to the safety of our perpetual entry level position. For a variety of reasons independence didn't work out last time with Hayden, but it might be worth a try again if all else fails. TCU was very proactive and mobile after the SWC breakup and they seem to be doing OK these days.

ColoradoEagle · June 30, 2010

Yeah, that was a good call back then. We were never going to make it anywhere with the likes of Tulsa, Louisville, Cincinatti, and Memphis as our conference mates. :rolleyes:

Fry bet the farm and lost, but he wasn't around to pay the price for the ensuing 23 years. He moved on to bigger and better things while NT had its athletics set back a quarter of a century.

Arkstfan · June 30, 2010

I guess in that scenario we go independent ourselves, or we come back home to the safety of our perpetual entry level position. For a variety of reasons independence didn't work out last time with Hayden, but it might be worth a try again if all else fails. TCU was very proactive and mobile after the SWC breakup and they seem to be doing OK these days.

The WAC has four former I-AA, C-USA has three, the Big East has two, the MAC has two.

foutsrouts · June 30, 2010

The WAC has four former I-AA, C-USA has three, the Big East has two, the MAC has two.

Yep. Those guys had the right combination of guts, luck, and location to move up. Everyone in the SBC came from 1AA but LA-LA.

Edited June 30, 2010 by foutsrouts

cdizzle86 · June 30, 2010

Or we could go to the WAC, Fresno St., Hawaii, etc.. go independent, the WAC folds and we are left without a conference home. The WAC is teetering on failure. Why jump on a sinking ship?

If we're metaphorically speaking, then Sun Belt doesn't even have a ship. I would much rather take my chances of getting into the promise land with a ship that might sink, as opposed to being stuck on shore.

foutsrouts · June 30, 2010

If we're metaphorically speaking, then Sun Belt doesn't even have a ship. I would much rather take my chances of getting into the promise land with a ship that might sink, as opposed to being stuck on shore.

Yes, we still have a life raft or two if the ship does sink.

VideoEagle · June 30, 2010

If we're metaphorically speaking, then Sun Belt doesn't even have a ship. I would much rather take my chances of getting into the promise land with a ship that might sink, as opposed to being stuck on shore.

Wow, you would really rather have the program shut down rather than present growth.

UNTLifer · June 30, 2010

Wow, you would really rather have the program shut down rather than present growth.

Appears so.

KRAM1 · June 30, 2010

Yeah, that was a good call back then. We were never going to make it anywhere with the likes of Tulsa, Louisville, Cincinatti, and Memphis as our conference mates.

Fry bet the farm and lost, but he wasn't around to pay the price for the ensuing 23 years. He moved on to bigger and better things while NT had its athletics set back a quarter of a century.

Wow, when did you start following UNT football and athletics? "Fry bet the farm and lost"????? Kidding, right? Fry was not the reason UNT, as you say, "had its athletics set back a quarter of a century". Revisionist history at play here....Let's not look at the administration, board or support levels at all...just blame one of the most successful coaches in UNT history. Fry would have been more than happy to stay at UNT if the support from the administration and fans had been there. Let's not compare what the programs at Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, etc. were like in the mid-to-late70's to where they are today. At the time, going independent was a good move by Fry and it payed off with some of the highest profile wins in the history of the program. Fry's teams were fun to watch and played from start to finish. I don't blame Fry for packing his bags and heading to Iowa. If UNT had given him half the support Iowa gave, he would have stayed with UNT. He loved it here, however, he was smart enough to see the handwriting on the wall when it came to long-term support for his program and athletics in general at UNT at the time.

Sorry, ColoradoEagle, appreciate your support for the Mean Green, but cannot agree with you assessment of Fry and his UNT program. Fry wanted UNT to "move up" and build a nationally recognized program, and he had the ability to get it there, just not the support.

UNTFan23 · June 30, 2010

If we're metaphorically speaking, then Sun Belt doesn't even have a ship. I would much rather take my chances of getting into the promise land with a ship that might sink, as opposed to being stuck on shore.

Bet the farm on a very risky bet. WAC folds like a cheap suit. NT then homeless.

Great.

ColoradoEagle · June 30, 2010

@KRAM I realize that he wanted more for the program, and it would've been nice had it worked out. He might've also kept football from being dropped entirely. In the end, though, he left the program no longer associated with a conference and without a future hall of fame coach. It was pretty easy to roll downhill from there.

I don't fault him for wanting bigger and better things, but us being without a conference didn't exactly help in staving off 1-AA.

cdizzle86 · June 30, 2010

Wow, you would really rather have the program shut down rather than present growth.

So the Sun Belt has grown a little. Who cares?...It hasn't grown enough and I don't believe it will have by the next realignment/superconferences/playoff system. Staying in the Sun Belt is a guaranteed death wish, but you would rather stay here?

I forget, we're North Texas....we never take risks. We only sit, hope, and wait for good things to happen yet we whine cause we don't get respect.