North Texas Waiting To Hear!

[50's PONY]

Wait continues for UNT in C-USA saga

09:28 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 21, 2004


By Brett Vito / Staff Writer




North Texas is still waiting for a definitive answer from Conference USA officials about its hopes to join the league, UNT Athletic Director Rick Villarreal said Monday.

Texas-El Paso and Louisiana Tech are also reportedly still in contention for a berth in the conference following a meeting of the league’s athletic directors in Dallas last week.


Rick Villarreal
The group is expected to make a recommendation to the presidents of C-USA member schools. The league’s presidents will make the final decision on expansion, although no deadline has been set for that decision.

Published reports have cited unidentified sources saying that UTEP was the athletic directors’ choice to become the 12th member of C-USA. The El Paso Times has since published a report quoting UTEP officials saying that they have not received an invitation from C-USA.

"We have not heard anything official at this point," Villarreal said. "I doubt we will hear anything until the end of the process. We are not sure where it is at this point."

A spot opened in C-USA when TCU announced it is leaving the league for the Mountain West Conference. The switch was one of the latest moves in a series of conference alignment changes that began last year.

UNT was one of several schools a C-USA consultant evaluated earlier this year. UNT is currently a member of the Sun Belt Conference.

"I don’t think there is any doubt that the interview was a great success," Villarreal said. "The official was very impressed with our plans for the future, what is already going on, our academic progress and where the university is going as a whole."

UNT has broken ground on a new $7.4 million athletic center. The facility was the second major upgrade the school has produced in the last few months.

UNT installed a new scoreboard with a video replay screen at Fouts Field before the beginning of football season.

The new athletic center and scoreboard are part of UNT’s overall efforts to upgrade its athletic program. UNT also added a softball program this year to reach the NCAA’s new Division I-A requirements that include fielding a minimum of 16 varsity sports. The requirements go into effect this fall.

UNT also features a football team that has won the Sun Belt title and played in the New Orleans Bowl in each of the last three seasons.

The question is whether the improvements UNT has made, its football program and its location near the Dallas-Fort Worth market will outweigh some of the school’s drawbacks. UNT does not have a baseball team and is still rebuilding its men’s basketball program. The Mean Green won just 20 games in four seasons before Johnny Jones took over the program before the 2001-02 campaign.

UNT won 15 games in Jones’ first season and posted 13 wins last year.

UNT officials have said that they would prefer to move into a league that would feature potential regional rivals. Houston is already a C-USA member, while SMU and Rice are set to join the league in 2005.

The impact of playing regional rivals could have on UNT has been apparent the last few seasons. The top four crowds for UNT football games in Fouts Field history watched the Mean Green take on in-state rivals.

UNT set a new Fouts Field record when 29,437 fans watched the Mean Green trounce Baylor, 52-14, last season.

The Mean Green’s chances of joining C-USA appeared to take a hit when SMU President Gerald Turner openly endorsed Louisiana Tech for a spot in the league earlier this month. SMU, Rice and Tulsa are all leaving the WAC for C-USA.

If C-USA decides not to invite Louisiana Tech, it could open up other possibilities for UNT. La. Tech would be isolated from the rest of the WAC, which is based primarily on the West Coast

WAC commissioner Karl Benson named UNT as a potential travel partner and bridge to the rest of the league for La. Tech after Rice, Tulsa and SMU committed to leave for C-USA. He reiterated his desire to expand earlier this week when he told the Honolulu Star Bulletin that the WAC would not stay at eight members.

The WAC would have eight members in 2005 if either UTEP of La. Tech leaves the league for C-USA. Benson and the WAC have already raided the Sun Belt once when the league added New Mexico State and Utah State to compensate for losing Rice, Tulsa and SMU to C-USA.

Joining its former Sun Belt rivals in the WAC would leave UNT in a league based in the West, where its games would start later at night due to the time difference.

The Sun Belt compensated for the loss of New Mexico State and Utah State by adding Florida International and Florida Atlantic to its league for football. Florida International is currently a member of the Sun Belt in all other sports and will move its program to Division I-A from I-AA in football.

Florida Atlantic has committed to joining the league and will also move its football team up from I-AA to I-A.

If UTEP leaves the WAC for C-USA, UNT could be forced to decide whether to move to the WAC or stay in the Sun Belt. UNT has improved its athletic program rapidly in the Sun Belt.

Villarreal said UNT will benefit from being considered for an invitation to C-USA no matter what the league decides to do.

"More people will know about what North Texas is today," Villarreal said. "More people will know that we have 30,000 students, improving academics and an athletic program that will continue to get better every year."



BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870.

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[Sam I Am]

Sorry, no coronation ball for UNT. The wait ought to be about joining the WAC, not the C-USA.

[MizterTea]

Wait continues for UNT in C-USA saga