Change of Pace: Say something nice about each departing school

[The Commish]

How about a change of pace? Let's say something nice about each school who is departing the Sun Belt. <br /><br />FIU - I loved seeing FIU at the basketball tournaments because I liked their "Olé, Olé, Olé" cheer and the Golden Dazzlers were great. FIU always has a decent baseball program, and their baseball coach's name is Turtle Thomas, which is great in and of itself. I had hoped to see a football game in Miami one day. Maybe one day we will be on each other's schedule again. <br /><br />FAU - FAU has a great baseball team annually. I like baseball so fielding a good baseball team year after year is something I admired. FAU will always have a soft spot in my heart since they were USA's first FBS win in football. I believe FAU still holds the record for time it takes a new team to not only go to a bowl game but to win it. FAU coaches helped USA a lot with our strategies in building our football program. <br /><br />UNT - UNT went from an average basketball team to a really good team in the last several years. That is admirable, and football shows signs of improving the same way. In the early days of Sun Belt football there was UNT and then everyone else. UNT brought recognition to the conference in those days. The overall UNT atheltic department seems to be improving as well, as UNT has improved in the Bubas Cup standings. If and when UNT adds baseball maybe we can play each other. <br /><br />MTSU - MTSU was a great host for the 2006-07 Basketball Tournament. When USA played WKU in the finals the MTSU fans that came out were cheering for us. That was soon after the whole goat thing at WKU so the students sitting near me were well prepared to make fun of WKU with signs. It was fun. They seemed more excited the Jags won than me! MTSU has a great overall athletic program as evidenced by their string of Bubas Cup wins. Football drives the bus but MTSU is a great example about caring for the other sports, and women sports in particular. <br /><br />Thank you to all four of you for helping build the Sun Belt. Without you SBC football might not even exist today.

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