TexasTerror

Many of us know how the business of collegiate athletics has changed -- guess you didn't get the memo? Come on UNLV, you know better. I do not think the Southland was ever on equal footing with those conferences. We were at a higher level than we are now by leaps and bounds, but we were still on a second tier...

Basketball. If this league is so horrible, why has Lamar failed to achieve any success? Okay, blame the conference for holding you back, but with more resources (the nicest arena in the conference and perhaps the deepest pockets for basketball), the football schools (who have less for basketball) seem to be the ones making the NCAAs and NIT while since Lamar returned, it took a surprising run in the SLC tournament to get there. A few of you constantly belittle the SLC, but it's not like Lamar is amounting to much, so you may as well belittle yourselves. And your surprised the SLC gets bids to the NCAA and NIT? The league had an RPI in the top 20 this year, better than at least 10 or so conferences. We constantly beat up on the SWAC, among a few other conferences. Why do we not deserve a bid when we are better than a growing amount of conferences each year? Baseball? The Southland should be able to get two teams in this year at the current rate and has do so in baseball before (and softball for that matter) in the last few years. UCA got a nice win over a nationally ranked Ole Miss yesterday, just a few days after being swept by SHSU. Not bad! Thanks for showing your lack of knowledge -- I haven't seen you on this board before, so good luck in "getting with the game"...and welcome to the "lowly" Southland.

I agree -- you are very a credible source of information ABR3...sounds like an attempt to generate excitement for a program, one that from words that have reached my ears (though I can not confirm), that is not doing as well as they would have thought, in raising the funds to help put this football program on the map... I should've known -- Lamar would have been ridiculous to give $300k a year to an FCS coach...

Switzer is 70 right now...is that the right man for the job? He have the energy to start a new program? I think Howard Schellenberger was younger when he started at a FAU. Not believing it til I see it...we'll see, I guess.

John Brady will be named head coach at Arkansas State tomorrow... ARKANSAS STATE TO HOLD 11:00 AM PRESS CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, TO ANNOUNCE NEW HEAD MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH JONESBORO (3/18/08) – The Arkansas State University Department of Athletics will hold an 11:00 a.m. press conference Wednesday, March 19, to announce a new head men’s basketball coach. The press conference will be held on the ASU campus at the Convocation Center auditorium. The press conference is open to working media and the public. The auditorium is located just inside the Convocation Center’s lower red entrance.

That's called a consistently successful football program.

ABR3...your coming around! Knew you'd be a big Div I playoff fan...

ABR3 -- check the RPIs. Your education apparently is not helping either. All of the teams that turned down the CBI bids (and there's plenty of articles out there that did) or ended up in the CBI were around the same RPI, if not rated worse than Sam Houston. I did not say SHSU wanted to make the financial obligation, I said I do not believe they wanted to. On that note, Lamar had an RPI 50 spots worse than SHSU and a good 30 spots "worse" (I don't like that word) than the last CBI team in. CBI had a rough time finding teams interested in their tournament -- why else would they put a 13-17 Cincy team in? From the looks of it, they went right down the RPI...though I'm sure they started with whatever high majors were left before going into the mid-majors...unless there was a potential attractive match-up in the region... Of course, I am still not sure what the deal is with this CBI tournament is -- so you could probably throw out all my thinking! Some things out in the media were not the same things I heard in my circles as it relates to the CBI...

Valpo 97 Bradley 105 Brown 107 Rider 110 Cincy 117 Richmond 120 Virginia 127 --------------- Lamar 159 They took teams mostly in the same range of RPI. Lamar was a good ways down from those teams, even the sub. 500 Cincy team. I'm pretty much under the impression SHSU did not want to make the financial obligation to the CBI. Makes plenty of sense to me...

The projections (which came from the same guy that does NITology) had us projected in. It's like the Bracketology for the NIT and CBI -- which I think is pretty neat that someone does this, as he's like the only one to do it. He sure gets a lot of traffic (and according to Google, quite a few message board mentions). The actual CBI bracket did not have SHSU.

No Southland teams in the CBI. Apparently RPI was not that big a criteria for them and they just wanted a good mix of majors and mid-majors. Some of these matchups make plenty of sense (Richmond v Virginia, Cincy vs Bradley), but it does not seem the Gazelle Group got as lucky at they wanted as some of these match-ups send teams on the road a little further than they probably wanted... Tuesday, March 18 Richmond at Virginia - 7 p.m. Houston at Nevada - 9 p.m. Brown at Ohio - TBA Rider at Old Dominion - TBA Wednesday, March 19 Cincinnati at Bradley - 7 p.m. Valparaiso at Washington - 9 p.m. Miami (Ohio) at Tulsa - TBA Utah at UTEP - TBA

I am surprised that this tournament has caught people off-guard. They've been talking about it off and on for much of the year. Guess some fans just don't really pay attention to this kind of thing until March. The tournament is run by one of those promotional groups (the Gazelle Group) that puts together quite a few tournaments. Asking around, not too many people think they are that organized of a bunch (which may have appeared pretty obvious when the bracket was announced pretty late last night). We'll see how this tournament goes. They have a decent TV package (Fox College Sports) for their first year. A mixed bag of a field...

Actually -- 15 wins. Throw out the sub-Div I wins. That leaves SHSU at 19 unfortunately, but the teams getting the CBI call have RPIs that are worse than ours...so, no telling. Perhaps SHSU declined the bid, but I doubt they would have...

Centenary... SHREVEPORT—Centenary Director of Athletics Dr. Tom Tallach today announced that Rob Flaska’s contract would not be renewed as head men’s basketball coach. A search for Flaska’s successor will begin immediately. “Over his three years, Rob was able to make some progress under some difficult circumstances. For that we are very appreciative,†said Tallach. “At this time, we are looking for something different in terms of leadership, and that is the rationale for this very difficult decision.†[Hidden Content]

Current CBI Houston (road) Virginia (home) Ohio (TBD) UNC-Wilmington (possible home, TBD) Bradley (TBD)

SHSU moved up as part of a group with fellow schools Southwest Texas and Stephen F Austin in the Gulf Star Conference. That conference was a bunch of Southland rejects who were making the move from Div II to Div I -- they really were. The Southland ended up calling their and their fellow Gulf Star squads up once the Southland lost a few squads in the late 80s... Should be noted SWT won back to back Div II titles and SHSU was then a strong suit in softball, volleyball, baseball and men's golf. UCA had a very strong program in football -- Clint Conque was doing all the right things. They timed it just perfectly with the SLC's efforts to expand. I believe it was UCA vs Tarleton St for that spot (as I think the SLC wanted A&M-CC because they had a strong BKB program and was committed to adding football down the road -- atleast, that's what they said). UCA was further along and had an attractive market (Little Rock) and a reach that the SLC wanted to venture to once more... A&M-CC was an independent and began their program from scratch. Moved quickly, but not as quick as programs like Florida International and Florida Atlantic. Those schools moved very quickly!

Why do you think the Bearkats and everyone in the FCS community is ragging on them? The only trip to the Div I playoffs came on the backs of players who were recruited by a coach that broke numerous NCAA rules to get them (Mataskis) -- you guys remember the Nealy/transfer issues, eh?

Arkansas State offers job to ex-LSU Brady March 16, 2008 By Glenn Guilbeau [email protected] ATLANTA — Former LSU basketball coach John Brady may have a new job before the college basketball season is over. "John Brady has been offered the Arkansas State job, it is my understanding," former LSU athletic director Joe Dean said in an interview on his cellular phone Saturday afternoon. "John's asked them if they can do this and this and this, and they're negotiating." Dean knows many basketball coaches and athletic directors around the country very well from his work as LSU's athletic director from 1987 through 2000 and as a Converse executive prior to that. [Hidden Content]

I have yet to listen to him on the air, but I've worked with him in the past -- back when he was at SHSU and even during his time at Houston. Regarding your other stuff, I love how I bring up Lamar's inability to succeed in basketball in the "lowly" SLC and then you bring up SHSU. Isn't Lamar supposed to be a basketball university? Your basketball budget has got to be more than ours and I know the expectations are much higher considering most of your fans lived through those "glory years". I'm very interested to see if Lamar moves out of the SLC. I'll say it again and again, if Texas State - San Marcos and Lamar leave, SHSU will be going with them...not sure what our future brings at that point.

My comments are in regard to your basketball team, since that's apparently what UNLV was talking to re: glory days. What has Lamar done in basketball? Outside of a surprise run to the NCAA tournament in 2000, they have not met anything near your expectations. And this is the "lowly" Southland, right? Didn't UNT turn down a WAC invite? I think I read that somewhere...and yep, La Tech has suffered. From what I gather, they have really hurt relationships with quite a few other schools, conferences in the region over the years. Can't wait for Cardinal football! There's no telling what kind of program you will have and not sure what kind of effect it will have...who knows, you guys may hurt McNeese and SHSU and get in a battle with Central Arkansas for SLC supremacy...

My challenge to you is this... If Lamar can't succeed in this "backyard alley conference", how could they succeed in what I guess you'll call a "more challenging" and "more prestigious" conference...? And travel partners? The two cities are about 300 miles apart, a four and a half hour drive. Those would not be fun travel partners at all especially considering the airport situation. If I was traveling with a team, I wouldn't enjoy that stretch.

Picked this one up from the SLC Tourney blog... Breaking News From Nicholls State -- Head Women's Basketball Coach Mark Cook Resigns THIBODAUX, La. - Nicholls State University Athletics Director Rob Bernardi announced on Friday that women’s basketball coach Mark Cook will not return to coach the Lady Colonels in the 2008-09 season. Cook completed his fourth season as the head coach of Nicholls after being hired in June 2004. Cook took over the women’s basketball program following a six-year stint as head coach at Dillard University in New Orleans, La., where his teams posted three-straight Gulf Coast Conference Championships. In four years at the helm of the Nicholls women’s basketball program, Cook compiled an 25-84 overall record and a 16-50 mark against Southland Conference opponents. This past season, the Lady Colonels posted a 6-21 overall record and a 4-12 record in Southland Conference competition. Nicholls went 2-11 in non-conference play. The performance of senior guard, Katherine Plummer, highlighted the 2007-08 season. Plummer finished the season as the league leader in scoring averaging 18.9 points per game, earning Second Team All-Conference honors. A search for a new head basketball coach will begin immediately.

Let's talk about coaching vacancies in the region. I am sure there will be an SLC vacancy or two on the horizon, maybe a few conference coaches considered for jobs elsewhere. You guys seem to have a good pulse on things and like me, have a knack for finding a good article or few, so what's going on? Here's a few, please feel free to add more if I am missing them. Men Rice Arkansas State LSU Women Nicholls State North Texas

Marlin is a very attractive candidate for the Rice job... I was a bit shocked by the actions on Main Street, but nothing surprises me in the business known as collegiate athletics. According to MK Bower's blog, Jeff Van Gundy, Josh Pastner and John Lucas are being thrown around...

From bigdog on KatFans...just one side of the story, as I am sure there are others. Not sure what he saw or you that went to the game saw, but thought I'd put it up for discussion... [Hidden Content]