Green Menace

[quote name="puddin tane" post="1283889" timestamp="1348808055"]
..being close to Dallas... I imagine tickets to watch the  mean green  are hard to get.....................or not

[i] For the 2011 season, the stadium averaged 18,864 spectators per home game, which is 61.15% of the facility's capacity of 30,850,[36] and the team ended the season ranked 98th out of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in average home attendance[/i]
[/quote]

Not hard to get at all.  If you pay attention to the sports scene in the DFW area, you'll know that SMU and TCU have the same problems.  Did you catch any of the TCU/Univ of Virginia game on TV?  I did, and that new, glorious stadium that have looked about 60% of capacity.  Now, we all know that when UT and the rest of the Big 12 contingent come into Amon Carter, the stadium will be packed. 

DFW has so many other sporting events for the UNT's, SMU's, and TCU's of the world to compete against.  And with the Rangers being in the playoffs and possibly the world series during the month of October, expect football attendance to take a hit.  That's just the way it is in the DFW area.

And being 98th out of 120 FBS teams in attendance is easy to do when a team has been down for 7-8 years.  Todd Dodge did more damage to UNT football than you could ever imagine.  The athletic director should have been shown the door too after Dodge was fired.  [b]And for the record, Todd Dodge was and is an outstanding person and role model for young men. [/b] He needs to stay in the high school coaching business.  Marble Falls is a great place for Todd.

[quote name="Wreckem2011" post="1283747" timestamp="1348798421"]
UNLV you live in some kind of fantasyland. If Lamar was a FBS program, I could understand expanding the staduim to 30k (like Texas State did). However Lamar is a startup FCS program. Once they start acing winning seasons and gain support, I would understand expanding the staduim.

There is nothing worse as a fan than going to a game and seeing the fans half full (Rice is an example).
[/quote]
I dunno Wreckem2011.  I know that utsa went from having nothing to building something in just 3-4 years from scratch.  I know they are in San Antonio and don't have to compete with other sports teams with the exception of their NBA team.  They have a dynamite athletic director, hired a "name coach", did a great marketing job to the businesses in San Antonio, and in a short period of time (two years of competition), the roadrunners are a known commodity, headed for CUSA.  Having the Alamodome for a stadium certainly helps.  Personally, I detest utsa for being so successful (so far).  What did they win, 2-3 games last year, and they really haven't really played anyone this year to get that 4-0 record.  that will all change over the course of the season.  Can't see them being any better than 4-8.

Point is, Lamar could have done the same thing.  They could easily get the donations to enlarge PU Stadium.  Heck, just adding seats to the North end zone bowl would be nice and an easy thing to do.

[quote name="wbfan" post="1275862" timestamp="1348065266"]
[quote author=Green Menace link=topic=103325.msg1275389#msg1275389 date=1348001463]
[b]
4. No need for a medical school;  [s]Obama will not be re-elected and Obamacare will be overturned.[/s][/b]

[/quote]

I beg to differ on that. Also, do NOT turn this into a political thread, let's just say I don't have a very positive response for that statement.
[/quote]
You are absolutely correct.  No need for political discussions on this board.  I have edited my original post.

For what it's worth-

1. Montagne Center is a fine facility.
2. Football stadium is OK for now;  expand to 20K+, or whatever putting end zone seating in brings the capacity to.  Add a football practice facility.
3. No need for a law school.
4. No need for a medical school
5. [u][b]Spend serious money on a new head football coach[/b][/u] (see #2).  Too many great FBS defensive and offensive coordinators out there for Lamar to be settled with a Juco Coach.

Seriously, people, what kind of game did you expect?  Woodard should never have scheduled this game or any game like it.  If you want to play and FBS team this early in Lamar's football resurgence, there are plenty of other programs you can play.  Lamar should be looking at playing Idaho, Florida Atlantic, Middle Tennessee, and other programs that are down right now.  Hell, line up a game with North Texas!  We're not setting the college football world on fire these days!!  Hawaii is tough gig.  They generally have first crack at all the top Hawaiian and Samoan players in the Pacific!  Heck, just having to put up with the Warrior Haku Dance would diminish any of Lamar's hope of winning that game.  Not sure if they still do that dance.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pCZ5RkhJkY&feature=related]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pCZ5RkhJkY&feature=related[/url]

I'll add something else..........

Why start the first game of the season with a previous year bowl winner?  Scheduling for success is so important.  My team, UNT, hasn't learned that.  We go on the road to play LSU, a sure loss for us.  In some cases you lose "casual" fan interest immediately.  UNT hasn't had a season opening game in Denton is something like 10 years.  The UNT Athletic Director is an idiot!  Our new coach McCarney says you can't build a program that way.  I say, schedule like Kansas State did.  Snyder(?) brought KSU back from the dead years ago by scheduling for success.

Even with the right scheduling, Lamar is new.  Give it time people.

Edit:  FYI, Florida International has been playing football for all of 8 years with this season.  Take a look at their records during their startup years.

[url=http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/FloridaInternational.htm]http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/FloridaInternational.htm[/url]

Takes time, but with patience and the right scheduling it can be done.

I read the Enterprise with amusement this morning.  The writer (can't think of his name) compares Lamar's 3rd year back at football, 2nd year in FCS classification(?), against and established program like ULL.  THERE IS NO COMPARISON!  ULL may be in the "lowly Sun Belt" but there is a big difference between the Cajuns and Lamar.  Scholarships, fans, facilities, athletic dept funds/budget, etc.  ULL is a real deal FBS program.

The writer points to the McNeese win over FBS Middle Tennessee.  That can happen when a program like McNeese does not have a 10 lapse in sponsoring FCS football.

My point is, Lamar fans should not be continually hard on the direction of the program.  It takes time for "start ups".  Unless.....................................you put the money into a coaching staff that can hit the ground running.  I thought Lamar was making a mistake hiring a JC coach, what, four years ago???  Should have hired a proven head coach or a top assistant from a successful program that could "kickstart" the Lamar program. 

LU fans to need to get behind the program, attend games, fill the stadium regardless of who they are playing, regardless of their record. Four years ago all Lamar could do was sit on the sidelines, catch a meaningless game on TV, all the while wishing football would return to Lamar.  Well it has returned!  Embrace it, support it.

[quote name="UNLV" post="1227968" timestamp="1338568073"]
When you measure distants between 2 cities, use the downtown's and not the suburb. Using the Suburbs puts Beaumont 43 miles from Houston.

2nd, 1.9 million people makes round trips PER YEAR between Beaumont/Port Arthur MSA and Houston MSA. 29th busiest in the nation between MSA's. TX-Dot has the Crosby freeway, highway 90, as the second freeway that will eventually link the Beaumont area to Houston. [b]Ya know DFW, the future will bring a HBP, Houston-Beaumont-Port Arthur CSA.[/b]
[/quote]

Wow!  That's a stretch.  Bmt-Pt Arthur is an afterthought in the grand scheme of things.  Houston doesn't need us.  Hell, we can't even support an airline!  I'm a PA boy, lived there half of my adult life.  Pt Arthur died 40 years ago and nothing will bring it back.

[quote name="UNLV" post="1225627" timestamp="1337875447"]
Don't get smug on CUSA. The SBC is a better conference than CUSA and will be for a few years.
CUSA will get raided before SBC by the higher conferences. Those conferences will take CUSA best which will push CUSA further down. Think about it, if the SBC and CUSA  play a play in game for the BCS playoffs, does it make a different which conference Lamar should join? [b] I will advocate for Lamar in the CUSA because 5 schools, Tulane-UNT-Tech-UTSA-Rce[/b], is a bus trip away. That is extra money spent on athletics and not travel. You and UNT should be thinking the same way because CUSA is no longer a step above the SBC. Especially if the SBC undumb itself by adding App st and NMSU with its MBB.

BTW, If the BIG 12 takes FSU, Clemson, G-tech, and ND in 2014, ECU and maybe Southern miss is gone from CUSA.


Also, there are no more big markets CUSA can go after so that play is off the table. CUSA needs more swim teams. I think Lamar might still add swimming.
[/quote]
Exactly why I'm glad UNT is out of the SBC.  Traveling is much better for our fans with Tulane, Tech, UTSA, Rice, and Tulsa.  As it stands now, with the teams that will make up CUSA in 2013, the conference is still better perceived than the SBC.  And it will definitely be better for UNT financially because of the TV money and bowl games that will be available.

But, really, in the grand scheme of the college football landscape, with the four, 16 team conferences being formulated with 64 teams, will the Sun Belt, CUSA, MWC, and Big East conferences really matter?  Everyone knows where this is headed and not all of the "name" programs will be invited.  The Big East will be a shell of its former self after the final raids take place.  Houston, Boise St, Memphis, UCF, Louisville, UConn, etc., won't smell the "elite 64".  The networks control the money stream, and they'll decide who will make up the elite 64.

Say hello to the new Div. 1A and Div. 1AA.

I don't think Lamar will smell CUSA.  Most of the current round of realignment is based on markets and/or brand.  UNT was able to get due to being in the Dallas market.  That doesn't mean we bring the whole market, just that we are considered in the Dallas market.  I can only assume Louisiana Tech got in because of their brand recognition.  The WAC did LT a world of good, not to mention their ability to having competitive teams and occasionally knocking off a name program.  Hell, in five years CUSA could be on gone.

It's a shame that college football has gotten down to this.  Decade old rivalries simply flushed down the toilet.  The Texas vs A & M rivalry will never be quite the same.

If I were Lamar, I would push for the Sun Belt.  Regardless of what the Sun Belt says, there will always be an opportunity for Lamar to move into that conference.  Considering how young the Sun Belt is, it's a good, competitive.  If Lamar gets a chance to line up with ULL(this fall?), Arkansas State, Troy, or MTSU, be prepared for some heavy hitting football.

[quote name="puddin tane" post="1225077" timestamp="1337710443"]
[quote author=NorthoftheBorder link=topic=99866.msg1225033#msg1225033 date=1337705306]
[quote author=Tigersvoice link=topic=99866.msg1224971#msg1224971 date=1337700443]
[quote author=UNLV link=topic=99866.msg1224967#msg1224967 date=1337699933]
Florida st and Clemson to the BIG 12. 
http://jugofsnyder.com/2012/05/21/florida-state-and-clemson-will-inform-acc-of-intent-to-leave/

Some rumors has ND joining too.

BTW, Lamar is bigger than Clemson.
[/quote]
Is that for real?  Do you mean just the Beaumont campus or all of the locations that have Lamar in their name?
[/quote]

Clemson has a total student population of about 19,500 and sits in a town of about 14,000.  However they are about 30 minutes from Greenville which has a population of about 650,000 and the metro area for Greenville is about 1,200,000.  LU is 90 miles from a 6.3mil metro area.  That 60 miles may make a big difference.
[/quote]

[color=green][b]problem with all this about Houston and tv.....Houston is one sorry college town...they dont support rice,cougar high...its a pro town[/b][/color]
[/quote]

That has been North Texas' problem forever.  Pro sports town- Cowboys, Mavs, Rangers, etc. and whatever pro soccer or pro hockey my still be up there.  Not to mention being in the shadows of the Big 12.  Only team to overcome most of this would be TCU.  Of course, they have more money that some countries and it's really easy to throw money at something the really want.

I just don't see that coast-to-coast conference thing happening.  Too expensive.

Lamar needs to concentrate on winning, winning, and more winning.  At the same time, fill your stands.  Then, knock off an FBS program or two on occasion.  The rest will come.  Lamar has people (Simmons) that want the program to succeed and the donor money is available when needed.  But I think you need a big time coach that can move the program forward, faster, and gets people excited.  See UTSA, Larry Coker, and whoever the female AD is.  Her name escapes me, but she sure is impressive in what she has done.  Of course, it doesn't hurt to have the complete back of the city and businesses.

[quote name="UNLV" post="1223048" timestamp="1337219874"]
Benson continue to mention SHSU and east Texas for expansion. I wonder if he means SFA and SHSU.
[/quote]

Benson will mention every college that has a football field.

[quote name="puddin tane" post="1221917" timestamp="1336928461"]
[quote author=77 link=topic=99866.msg1221823#msg1221823 date=1336876258]
How many sold out games did Lamar have last year? what is capacity about 16000?
[/quote]

zero,......................but we COULD build a big arse stadium like Green menance's at NTSU and do the same thing...fill half of it
[/quote]
What's with the North Texas hate?  BTW, we haven't been North Texas State University since the late 1980's.  You must be a closet SMUt fan.  No?

[quote name="77" post="1221843" timestamp="1336878451"]
Have to win regularly to keep those butts in the seats.
[/quote]
That's where it's at.  You gotta win.

This may get me banned from the board, but I'm not convinced Lamar's Woodard is that good.  Too bad LU didn't put some real money into the HC position and hire someone with FCS or FBS head coaching experience instead of a JC coach.  A person with a name and some shingles on the wall.  Look at what UTSA has done with Coker in year one.  Not many wins and probably won't be many this season, but Coker has the experience to move that program up.

And I'll tell you another thing, Lamar has to learn to spend money on good assistant coaches.  $50,000 for a position coach won't get you many good takers.  Only the retreads.  And if you happen to get a really good position coach, you have to pay them well to keep them.

[quote name="puddin tane" post="1221484" timestamp="1336843999"]
[quote author=Green Menace link=topic=99866.msg1220730#msg1220730 date=1336741400]
[quote author=puddin tane link=topic=99866.msg1220724#msg1220724 date=1336738873]
nice NT stadium pic...with a crowd???  Reba McEntire concert?
[/quote]

Uh, no.  That's called FBS football.  Lamar should try it sometime.

Touche'
[/quote]

[i]Home attendance at Apogee Stadium averaged 19,445 per game, or [b]63%[/b] of the facility's capacity of 30,850.[/i]
Thats called NTSU football-----
[/quote]

When you're coming off of 4 straight losing seasons of Todd Dodge ball, sometimes that has an effect on game attendance.  Not to mention the monsoon NT had at the last home game's pounding of Middle Tenn State.  Can our attendance be better?  Certainly.  Probably won't see it until we start a Conference USA schedule in 2013.  I like our chances of moving up the food chain and the subsequent increase in attendance.

BTW, is this Lamars only football message board?  Not much activity here.

[quote name="puddin tane" post="1220724" timestamp="1336738873"]
nice NT stadium pic...with a crowd???  Reba McEntire concert?
[/quote]

Uh, no.  That's called FBS football.  Lamar should try it sometime.

Touche'

[quote name="coachacola" post="1220405" timestamp="1336666233"]
I hear the CUSA wants to expand past 14 teams but we won't see Lamar going there.  The WAC is pretty much dead as a football conference.  What other conference is there besides the Sun Belt?

Conference movement is stopping after this year, but Lamar definitely needs to be ready to jump at anytime.  The window of opportunity won't stay open very long, but they probably have another year or two before to decide.

[b]I don't think Lamar moves up to a FBS level unless Dr. Simmons has the backing of some big donors to help finance the move.  I think they need some commitments to help pay for stadium expansion before they commit to going FBS.[/b]
[/quote]

Lamar needs to make a commitment to stadium expansion NOW!  The big donors are in Beaumont and Lamar should start the ball rolling to expand Provost Umphrey to 30,000.  Dr. Simmons is a "get it done" President and stadium expansion could easily happen.  It'll make Lamar much more attractive.

[quote name="puddin tane" post="1217454" timestamp="1336013315"]
So miss is gonna want out of that...................
[/quote]
Again.....where they going to go?  And they are not in a big market.  That seems to be the game plan for conference expansion.

[quote name="UNLV" post="1216336" timestamp="1335802326"]
Very very very very near dead. Schrodinger's cat dead. Many CUSA fans are not happy with the poor athletic state of the schools being invited.

La Tech football is ok, but remaining sports stink. La Tech is last in the WAC commissioners cup.
UNT has one of the worse football programs.
FIU, like Tech, ok in football but sucks in other major sports.
UTSA, enough said.

Not to say those schools can't improve however I don't believe they will because CUSA becomes another Sunbelt, except in academics.

The point I'm making is not to down those schools because I would love to see Lamar in conference with La Tech and UNT again. A few schools like UTEP, Marshall, ECU, Tulsa, and maybe Rice might leave this watered down CUSA.

Tulsa and Rice can afford to leave. Tulsa wants in on MWC.
Marshall is wondering why play in a crappy conference with lots of travel when you can play in a crappy FBS nearby, MAC.

ECU wants no part of this new CUSA.

UTEP wants in on MWC.

UTEP, Tulsa, Utah st, SJSU gives MWC 12 and championship game.
[/quote]

UNT has had problems in football ever since the ill advised hiring of Todd Dodge and his high school assistants.  The UNT athletic director should have been fired with Dodge.  However, prior to that period, UNT enjoyed four Sun Belt Football Championships, a string of 21 or was it 23 straight conference football wins, and four trips to the New Orleans Bowl.  UNT made coaching changes, new stadium, and a new direction.  CUSA will give UNT better recruits and better football opponents.

And our basketball is not too shabby.

As for the CUSA programs that will remain, UTEP, Tulsa, Rice, Tulane, So. Miss., ECU, UAB, etc., what other conference will they move to?  With the exception of UTEP, most are simply too far from the MWC members.  And UTEP, Tulsa, Rice, and Tulane enjoy Texas recruiting.

Yes, CUSA has been weakened, but to sell the new members short.

My $.02 cents.  Gilligan will step down after this season, regardless of how the season goes for Lamar.

Maybe it's just me, but the Beaumont Enterprise Sports has really gone downhill over the past few years.  For the most part, the sports coverage is nothing but high School sports.  Don't get me wrong, HS sports is a great thing and local teams and players deserve to be featured..  But day after day coverage, sometimes 2-3 pages of nothing but HS sports articles, tends to get a little old.  These new writers they have...........I just don't know.  They put these high school players on really tall pedestals.  Seems like there would be more pro football, college college and pro baseball coverage.  As much as I dislike the Port Arthur News and Bob West's daily (or so it seems) articles on Little Joe Washington, Jamaal Charles, or Chris Stroud, plus his old archieved articles from 25 years ago, it seems to have a slightly better balance in its sports section than the current Beaumont Enterprise.

Not trying to stir anything up; just wondering if anyone else shares the same impression as me.

Is Time Warner carrying the Longhorn Network in the Triangle?

[quote name="puddin tane" post="1051990" timestamp="1315506221"]
[quote author=Green Menace link=topic=87816.msg1051883#msg1051883 date=1315492528]
[quote author=Bobcatfan4life link=topic=87816.msg1051664#msg1051664 date=1315442814]
South Alabama head coach Joey Jones on Lamar:

[i]On Lamar:[/i]

“They are a much-improved ball team. They won 58-0 last week, and they have everyone back on their team. They brought in some really good players on their offensive line, and shored up some things. They’re trying to run the football more. You can tell they have really spent some time on their running game. I thought one of the negatives last year was they were really good throwing the football but didn’t run it as well. I think they knew that, and they have really developed their running game. They will be a much more balanced team offensively. And defensively, they are more athletic especially inside. They have some defensive tackles who are very good football players. They played us really well last year. I thought we had a good day offensively, but we didn’t score much. We need to be able to punch the ball in the end zone more [this year], and our kids are fully aware of that.”

[i]On preparing for an experienced team like Lamar:[/i]

“We really don’t change anything about how we prepare other than we look at our opponent week-to-week. Our kids realize that they [Lamar] will be a much-improved football team. From year one to year two, we became a much better football team and likewise with them. I think they have had our game circled, and our kids realize that as well.”

http://www.usajaguars.com/news/2011/9/5/FB_0905112547.aspx
[/quote]
Coaches speak.  USA by 21 points!
[/quote]

Nice stadium there, Green...judging from the stands..last homecoming game?????? 

[color=red]GO BIG RED!!!!![/color]
[/quote]

Ha, ha!  Funny.  We open the stadium this weekend against the Houston Cougars.  Should be a packed house.