TexasTerror

I talked about the SLC as a whole. Stated that no one likes going into SLC arenas and that our league's scheduling is better now, but we can do better... I thought you guys had ULL on the slate. They also have SHSU. Surprised they'd be willing to venture to Beaumont and Huntsville, they have much more to lose than gain.

No one wants to go to an SLC arena. We've done better, but we could do better... Coaches have obligations to having a certain amount of home games. SHSU refuses to play more than two $$$ games a year (this year, Texas A&M and UTEP -- last year, San Diego State and Saint Louis). Lamar has a different scheduling approach obviously...

I have just found out that the fee is not in discussion mode...it has already passed by a 2:1 margin amongst our students. You want to talk about a clear majority putting their vote behind athletics? Figure the specifics of the fee increase and what it means to SHSU athletics will be made available soon. SHSU is stepping up to the plate and 'Closing the Gap' with those institutions in the state of Texas -- SFA and TXST -- that outspend us by a several million dollar margin...

On the hardwood, lots of great hoops success in the 70s and 80s. Nothing much of a blip of the radar since for the most part, especially as it relates to the postseason and conference championships...

UH to the SEC...? This is reminding me of the old Lamar board. Plenty of Cougar High talk!

On this board, they'll tell you a whole bunch of SETX guys for numerous reasons and thus far, that's what they've gotten. Then again, the media in SETX is all over their HS football teams as are the fans on this board. Very interested to see the hometowns of the players that come in within a few months. Also interested to see where names from SHSU, McNeese, SFA and NWST come from as far as lack of SETX players...

I'm not happy about going FBS because we do not have a seat at the table in football. The landscape of FBS needs to change and perhaps our administration who is very involved in football activities (our AD sat on the FCS football committee), knows something that is not out there. Look how long it has taken a school like La-Lafayette to go to the bowl games and they've obviously not had a shot at the championship. They hang their hat on a mid 1990s win over Texas A&M. They may go bowling this year, but that's a bit ridiculous. Didn't you guys already put an increase for student athletic fees? Or did you separate the fee from where it was? Forget what you guys did...

UNLV may tinkle his pants, because it looks as if SHSU is moving towards tinkering with the athletic fee by moving the athletic fee out from under the auspices of Student Services. The link does not work for me, but if someone is able to get access to it, I'll let you know (or someone else will) on here, because then we can all access it. I'm assuming that we could possibly get this situation rectified by the end of the 2009 session of the Texas Legislature. Since I'm not 100% clear on what they are doing (due to the lack of ability to read the article), I can not really state what is needed to do, though I have an idea... This may spur some people to think SHSU is preparing for FBS...and considering, we do not like sitting idle, especially behind our sister schools...very well could be. [Hidden Content]

Great win, Cards... ;D SHSU got their first-ever SLC win late in their second season as well. Colonels are 2-15, 0-8 SLC. Only wins are against the SWAC. Guessing they are eliminated from SLC tournament competition, eh? Looks like SHSU will need to beat LU in Huntsville next weekend to secure a tournament spot...

Head coach at Northwestern State. He's known as "Stoker the Joker" amongst league fans who every year get to hear from the Demons head coach about their top ranked recruiting class in the SLC and how they always have the toughest schedule in the league. It's an annual rite of passage in the league. His dad is the legendary (in Louisiana HS football ranks) Butch Stoker. Former Demons QB, Stoker is... Similar to Eastern Kentucky, Montana State won't play Montana if they go FBS, just like McNeese does not play La-Lafayette. Those teams won't want to be part of a one-sided rivalry game where they go to that team every year. It's commonsense and more importantly, against league rules for some conferences for an FBS to go to an FCS. And we are talking about Montana. Their fans won't want a lapse in home games. They expect 6, if not 7 home games yearly. They only play FBS schools if the $$$ is high in the sky, because they can make more from a home game than they can from traveling to quite a few FBS schools (outside of the BCS conferences). They pay schools to come to them. Occasional OOC home-and-home, but it's got to be a good team (they like Cal Poly and have had a healthy relation with SHSU). PGA Management degree program is capped at a certain amount of students. It's a unique program and we do own our own golf course, which is a nice little part of that. LUFAN -- you think highly of Lamar academics and I do not fault for you for that. However, as recently as 2005, when I was debating against the merits of a flagship school in the TSUS, the only schools the Regents and/or Chancellor mentioned were Sam Houston State and that little school in San Marcos. In fact, the TXST student body president at the time said that while TXST had the size, academically, SHSU was the top dog. Not once during my years of politicking as a student leader did Lamar really come into the forefront as one of the top academic institutions. It's not a smack against your school, just telling you as I heard it from the 'power people' in the system. And I dare say, SHSU has continued moving forward in that time with new doctoral programs and new masters programs while churning out more and more of those. Apparently, churning out said students has a lot to do with the TSUS rating system and really, the flagship issue, if it were to ever come about because it's all about being a research institution.

The mind set in Huntsville is that athletically and academically, we are second to no school in the TSUS. It's why there is no flagship -- we fought that off and why SHSU and TXST both came up to Division I at the same time in the first place... We have no intentions on "following" schools that we feel are equal or lesser than that of our own...

McNeese was missing three All-Americans (including two bonafide Sunday players) and a few role players. They limped to the finish line. Legit top 10 program with all those players...and yep, UCA would do some damage if they got a chance this year... Only been that way since Katrina/Rita year...prior to that, we were one of the top three, four leagues in terms of putting teams into the playoffs. The hurricanes as of late have made a mess of our league and really taken the playoffs out of the hands of the teams. We've lost some critical games and some teams (i.e Nicholls) really took a blow in terms of practice time (they were a solid squad and got screwed this year) If Lamar goes, SHSU will go. Simple as that. I'm not a fan of not having a seat at the table as far as playing for a "title" (if you want to call the FBS title that). Lamar is not as attractive at UTSA and even TXST. That's going to hurt. Will 2012 give the Cards a chance to prove they have an attractive football for an FBS conference? Does the Sun Belt want to take Lamar back in? What is Lamar's ticket to FBS?

Montana does not want to go to the WAC. They've discussed it and they like being what they are and quite frankly, they make money doing it plus many home games. If they go FBS, they'll lose out on all those home dates, they'll lose their rivalry game (against Montana State, just like WKU is losing theirs against EKU) and they won't compete for a national title every year. Idaho, eh? Got to remember SHSU has wins over the Sun Belt as of late. Not sure Idaho could even get on equal footing as that league. If we were going to compare Lamar to an FBS school, that'd be Texas State. The Bobcats for most of their SLC tenure have held Lamar's old spot in the cellar clean. Lamar leads the conference in most times at the bottom of the league. Great job Cards! Cards also have disillusional fans like UNLV that think they need to be FBS once they can without even seeing if the community will support the team after the hype of having a football team wears off. Bobcats have been dillusional for sometime and have already one failed FBS move to their name (great job LaFleur!) and to date, their only NCAA playoff appearance at the top level (the lowest amount of all active FCS teams in the Texas half of the SLC) was done on the backs of players illegally recruited (see Barrick Nealy from UH), one of numerous NCAA violations that led their coach to being canned.. He's made our job more attractive than ever before. I doubt we'll fall hard when Marlin leaves if we make the right hire like we did with baseball (two NCAA appearances in two years under Johnson) and softball (Brock has got our program back to where it belongs). Marlin has gone into SHSU and proved two things. You can have success on the floor (top SLC program since Marlin came in based on W-L record) and you can lead the conference academically while doing it (SHSU has 'dominated' the All-SLC Academic squads in hoops under Marlin)

Fun times in Tampa! Yep, we were in the NCAAs in Lamar's "bread and butter" sport more recently than your own Cards. Of course, really can't say too much about your winning in SHSU's "bread and butter" sport...perhaps soon enough. UNLV...oh, football master and Einstein...let's all bow down at your feet! : Can you please tell me the GPI of the SLC? You need to stick to your fBS and leave the FCS alone. You are obviously a confused fan (see the name) and confusion reigns supreme in FBS, where no national champion is declared by the NCAA...

Yep -- you don't know what being at a football school in the SLC is like. Young one, you have much to learn, though it may be awhile until LU develops a rivalry with anyone, especially with your FBS aspirations...fans on both sides of the Piney Woods rivalry will tell you that records mean crap. We've seen top 15 ranked SFA teams fall to unranked SHSU teams and vice-versa. We've seen it all. Our gray hairs could tell you a thing or few about the rivalry... You guys do not have one single player and you are saying that? Can't wait to see Woodard start talking about nationally ranked FCS recruiting classes and tough schedules. I have a feeling, based on what I've been told about him -- that he'll replace Scott Stoker in several regards... SHSU needs to get our act together? We've had two consecutive second-place finishes. We've been to the playoffs twice since 2001. We've had results including a national semifinal appearance (2004) in our recent history. This is not like Lamar, where all the talk is still about the NCAA tournament appearances in the 1980s. Our history is recent and even the young folk who were actually around to see it...unlike Lamar, where none of your traditional students were even born when LU was having success in the postseason in your "Bread and Butter" sport...

Nicholls beat McNeese. How is that being winless? SHSU has two playoff visits since 2001. How many other teams in the league can stake to that claim? Just McNeese State, if I am not mistaken. SHSU has dominated the rivalry as of late. They play this weekend. The only SFA win in the last seven years was on a fluke 50 yard FG by a kicker who shanked twice from about 25 out earlier in the game. Our head coach is 3-0 against the Jacks. Best part of this rivalry is that you can throw out Ws and Ls, it's been one of the better rivalry games (for the most part) in the league with some exciting finishes (that aforementioned 50 yarder, a blocked FG one year by the Kats and many other late-game heroics). They also play for hardware, one of only three games in the SLC to do that -- Battle for the Paddle (Nich vs TXST) and Chief Caddo (NWST vs SFA)...

From CHN...nothing too unexpected. CHN does not believe that the SLC can repeat the success from 2007-08. If the SLC does repeat the success, it'd be a great day in Frisco... [Hidden Content]

Perhaps a SHSU player is just as deserving... Irina Sotnikova beat Gutierrez, who I believe was not 100% -- 6-2, 6-0 -- when the two played at SFA. Though, SHSU does not seem to be competing in the ITA Regionals. Not sure why any team does that.. ??? Wish I could see Sotnikova v Gutierrez I and Peta Taylor vs Gutierrez II later in the year...and then when they combine for doubles! That's some good tennis right there, best in SLC perhaps. Kats beat them in doubles last year and got swept out in doubles in that dual, interested to see how Kats fare when singles count this year...and if they can repeat said success in doubles.

Wonder if that means that Lamar is opening up with four straight SLC opponents or if the SLC made some flexibility occur to help the Cards get four SLC opponents in.

SLU and McN are in. Those are road games from what I have been told. We know for a fact McNeese is. SHSU has three OOC football games in 2010 -- at Baylor, at WIU and home vs Prairie View. SHSU is also playing Gardner-Webb at home in 2010, if I am not mistaken at home, so we may be booked. Could be playing G-W in 2009 at home, but I do not think we are. SHSU was rumored to play LU, but the PV series got back up because of Ike. I mentioned this a few weeks ago... Hawaii is not in. They could not play you guys in 2010 as you would NOT count towards bowl eligibility. That's why you will not get an FBS opponent in year one. They already have an FCS opponent in 2009 (UCA) and 2010 (North Dakota). It'd be stupid to play a second one in 2010, especially one that does not account (incase they somehow lost to UND), for bowl eligibility. South Alabama and Georgia St have been talked about and make absolute sense. I hope you guys got home-and-homes with both. I just hope you guys get a nice balance -- 0 home, 2 away thus far. Home games will probably be half FCS and half sub-Div I.

Billy Tubbs has road games to SLU and McNeese scheduled. May get another SLC game or two (possibly more, if the conference shows flexibility), but that's about all she wrote because of the SLC schedule. LU is playing the toughest schedule of a new squad -- much tougher than South Alabama, which is the worst I've seen and more than likely, a few notches above Old Dominion.

UTSA has a better chance at FBS than any conference school...in fact, this will either severely damage the TXST options at FBS or really help them (if they ride UTSA's coattails into an FBS conference)... Are they more attractive than McNeese? It's different because in Louisiana, McNeese tends to actually get the players that do not get snagged up by LSU and BCS teams. In fact, the Pokes tend to beat out ULL, ULM and La Tech for players on a consistent basis.

Just where I thought on the men's side -- behind UT-Arlington. Men: [Hidden Content] Women: [Hidden Content] Two first-team selections for women...Williams x 2... [Hidden Content] Dawkins on first-team... [Hidden Content]

Per KatFans.com... Not sure that we are living in the past or have anything to live in the past about. It's not like we've ever had a consistent program for a sustained few year period like Lamar did for hoops before the current 'dry period' for LU hoops in the 'lower tier' Southland... Anyhow, want some humorous conversation -- head to KatFans.com. We've really hit a new low in football. We'll be all excited about basketball. We'll see if our new guys deliver... SLC preseason polls due out Tuesday! LU fans -- who you guys have going from the media to SLC hoops day? Perryn? Gary? KFDM?

See -- now you are losing me. When Grambling and ULM played, they had a PACKED house last year. That was their top attended game. Remind me? Is Grambling FCS? Same goes for ULL when they had McNeese last year and when they have Southern next year. FCS can be good draws at certain schools. Lamar will be interesting to monitor -- we know the "gray hairs" show up for basketball and LU does not have quite the student draw as a SHSU. But, in football...will the students show up?