Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
In North Texas' town hall after their American invite, Athletic Director Wren Baker made it clear that he wants to be the AD that brings baseball to UNT.
It's at 26:00 of this video.
When you add in the new teams to an American Conference that is already ranked from 4-6 in RPI each year (a power baseball league), American baseball has an opportunity to go even higher with Rice/FAU/CLT/UAB/UTSA. Last year CUSA ranked just behind the American.
The American has some excellent baseball tradition with Rice, Wichita State, ECU, Tulane, etc. If North Texas makes it an 11 team conference - with a team in the fertile North Texas region - it will be even better. (one can even dream that UNT will pry Heefner away from DBU).
Other interesting things said at the North Texas-American rally:
- AD Wren Baker had many late nights (due to time difference) talking to the MWC representatives about going West. That was a fallback position.
- The UNT President Neal Smatresk is giddy. They've been working on this for years. He left the Presidency at UNLV to take the UNT Presidency, and he loves the academic and athletic offerings at the AAC much better (especially the television package). At UNLV they didn't support sports.
- The SMU President gave Smatresk the congratulations in the days leading up to the announcement.
- They are going to ramp up their investments to compete at the top of the American, and they are running models based on Houston's investments while in the AAC.
(This post was last modified: 01-18-2022 01:49 AM by TroyTBoy.)
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
As happened at Boise State, what is the sport he's going to cut?
Title IX isn't vanishing and 53.5% of UNT undergrads are women, yet 56% of scholarships go to men right now. That's about the max they can stretch it. Baseball calls for 11.7 full equivalent scholarships. So realistically about 12 scholarships for men have to be cut somewhere else, or a women's sports added with more scholarships than are added to baseball. Most likely something will be cut.
What are the candidates? Most probably Men's Tennis (everybody cuts Tennis first) and Men's Golf. Men's Swimming and Men's Track already long vanished from the UNT mix. They could probably cut just one of those (Tennis) and add women's beach volleyball to offset the scholarships, and play baseball a couple scholarships short of the 11.7 full equivalents (say 9).
(This post was last modified: 01-18-2022 03:23 AM by Stugray2.)
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
They already don't have men's tennis (but they do have men's track and field, along with cross country). Currently, they have six men's sports (football, basketball, golf and the three track and field/cross country sports), and 10 women's sports (same as men minus football, but add in tennis, volleyball, soccer, softball and swimming).
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
They dropped it because they played in a city park (Reverchon) that was three miles from campus and had no official gate. They were terrible against their peers and were the third best of three programs in Dallas/Fort Worth and the divide was growing. I order for them to start now, they’d have to find room for a baseball field in a landlocked urban campus and start from scratch or play in a sub-par facility.
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
(01-18-2022 01:44 AM)TroyTBoy Wrote: In North Texas' town hall after their American invite, Athletic Director Wren Baker made it clear that he wants to be the AD that brings baseball to UNT.
It's at 26:00 of this video.
When you add in the new teams to an American Conference that is already ranked from 4-6 in RPI each year (a power baseball league), American baseball has an opportunity to go even higher with Rice/FAU/CLT/UAB/UTSA. Last year CUSA ranked just behind the American.
The American has some excellent baseball tradition with Rice, Wichita State, ECU, Tulane, etc. If North Texas makes it an 11 team conference - with a team in the fertile North Texas region - it will be even better. (one can even dream that UNT will pry Heefner away from DBU).
Other interesting things said at the North Texas-American rally:
- AD Wren Baker had many late nights (due to time difference) talking to the MWC representatives about going West. That was a fallback position.
- The UNT President Neal Smatresk is giddy. They've been working on this for years. He left the Presidency at UNLV to take the UNT Presidency, and he loves the academic and athletic offerings at the AAC much better (especially the television package). At UNLV they didn't support sports.
- The SMU President gave Smatresk the congratulations in the days leading up to the announcement.
- They are going to ramp up their investments to compete at the top of the American, and they are running models based on Houston's investments while in the AAC.
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
(01-18-2022 09:46 AM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote: They dropped it because they played in a city park (Reverchon) that was three miles from campus and had no official gate. They were terrible against their peers and were the third best of three programs in Dallas/Fort Worth and the divide was growing. I order for them to start now, they’d have to find room for a baseball field in a landlocked urban campus and start from scratch or play in a sub-par facility.
Given how rich in baseball talent Dallas/Fort Worth appears to be, let alone all of Texas, I'd have expected the Ponies held their own nationally. Even as the third of three programs locally. IOW, I would have never thought on-field competition was an issue.
I hope SMU finds a way to bring it back. In the meantime, I'm glad they still have men's soccer.
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
(01-18-2022 08:00 AM)esayem Wrote: I don’t know why SMU dropped baseball. I’m sure somebody here has told me but it seems like a no-brainer for the Mustangs to have a baseball team.
As noted above, the facilities were a problem but it was just a poorly supported program. SMU could build on or near campus if they were strategic about it--Reverchon Park could be a suitable location if the money was there.
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
If the Mountain West was a backup plan for NORTH TEXAS------ this indicates that perhaps part of the reason the AAC snatched NT was to keep the MW from getting a foothold in Texas. Sounds like the MW was serious.
If they were able to get the Mean Green then getting a second team as a travel partner would have been easier.
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
(01-18-2022 03:29 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:
(01-18-2022 08:00 AM)esayem Wrote: I don’t know why SMU dropped baseball. I’m sure somebody here has told me but it seems like a no-brainer for the Mustangs to have a baseball team.
As noted above, the facilities were a problem but it was just a poorly supported program. SMU could build on or near campus if they were strategic about it--Reverchon Park could be a suitable location if the money was there.
Building near campus would require purchasing some of the most expensive real estate in Texas. Startup costs for that sport in that area would be massive.
Reverchon would be a poor area, and was 30-40 years ago as well. My outsiders take is that SMU prides itself on quality facilities, from soccer to tennis to football. Moody has a great field house atmosphere in spite of its age and they gave it a facelift. It’s a great place to watch and play basketball. In order to get their standards for baseball would be rough.
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
(01-18-2022 01:29 PM)Sactowndog Wrote:
(01-18-2022 01:44 AM)TroyTBoy Wrote: In North Texas' town hall after their American invite, Athletic Director Wren Baker made it clear that he wants to be the AD that brings baseball to UNT.
It's at 26:00 of this video.
When you add in the new teams to an American Conference that is already ranked from 4-6 in RPI each year (a power baseball league), American baseball has an opportunity to go even higher with Rice/FAU/CLT/UAB/UTSA. Last year CUSA ranked just behind the American.
The American has some excellent baseball tradition with Rice, Wichita State, ECU, Tulane, etc. If North Texas makes it an 11 team conference - with a team in the fertile North Texas region - it will be even better. (one can even dream that UNT will pry Heefner away from DBU).
Other interesting things said at the North Texas-American rally:
- AD Wren Baker had many late nights (due to time difference) talking to the MWC representatives about going West. That was a fallback position.
- The UNT President Neal Smatresk is giddy. They've been working on this for years. He left the Presidency at UNLV to take the UNT Presidency, and he loves the academic and athletic offerings at the AAC much better (especially the television package). At UNLV they didn't support sports.
- The SMU President gave Smatresk the congratulations in the days leading up to the announcement.
- They are going to ramp up their investments to compete at the top of the American, and they are running models based on Houston's investments while in the AAC.
Why is Rice in this list?
? Rice is to be one of the 'CUSA 6' moving up to the AAC in 2023... personally, they have been a thorn in the side of my UAB Blazers as of late, just flat out whuppin' us in football (we were about three TD faves ) and a few weeks ago they beat us in basketball (we were also the big favorite in that one... ) so, Lord knows what they will do to us in Baseball, which is traditionally the Owls' sport of choice...
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
(01-18-2022 01:44 AM)TroyTBoy Wrote: In North Texas' town hall after their American invite, Athletic Director Wren Baker made it clear that he wants to be the AD that brings baseball to UNT.
It's at 26:00 of this video.
When you add in the new teams to an American Conference that is already ranked from 4-6 in RPI each year (a power baseball league), American baseball has an opportunity to go even higher with Rice/FAU/CLT/UAB/UTSA. Last year CUSA ranked just behind the American.
The American has some excellent baseball tradition with Rice, Wichita State, ECU, Tulane, etc. If North Texas makes it an 11 team conference - with a team in the fertile North Texas region - it will be even better. (one can even dream that UNT will pry Heefner away from DBU).
Other interesting things said at the North Texas-American rally:
- AD Wren Baker had many late nights (due to time difference) talking to the MWC representatives about going West. That was a fallback position.
- The UNT President Neal Smatresk is giddy. They've been working on this for years. He left the Presidency at UNLV to take the UNT Presidency, and he loves the academic and athletic offerings at the AAC much better (especially the television package). At UNLV they didn't support sports.
- The SMU President gave Smatresk the congratulations in the days leading up to the announcement.
- They are going to ramp up their investments to compete at the top of the American, and they are running models based on Houston's investments while in the AAC.
So that's why UNT never added baseball in C-USA!! They were prepping for a move to another conference!!!
RE: Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
(01-20-2022 12:15 AM)DawgNBama Wrote:
(01-18-2022 01:44 AM)TroyTBoy Wrote: In North Texas' town hall after their American invite, Athletic Director Wren Baker made it clear that he wants to be the AD that brings baseball to UNT.
It's at 26:00 of this video.
When you add in the new teams to an American Conference that is already ranked from 4-6 in RPI each year (a power baseball league), American baseball has an opportunity to go even higher with Rice/FAU/CLT/UAB/UTSA. Last year CUSA ranked just behind the American.
The American has some excellent baseball tradition with Rice, Wichita State, ECU, Tulane, etc. If North Texas makes it an 11 team conference - with a team in the fertile North Texas region - it will be even better. (one can even dream that UNT will pry Heefner away from DBU).
Other interesting things said at the North Texas-American rally:
- AD Wren Baker had many late nights (due to time difference) talking to the MWC representatives about going West. That was a fallback position.
- The UNT President Neal Smatresk is giddy. They've been working on this for years. He left the Presidency at UNLV to take the UNT Presidency, and he loves the academic and athletic offerings at the AAC much better (especially the television package). At UNLV they didn't support sports.
- The SMU President gave Smatresk the congratulations in the days leading up to the announcement.
- They are going to ramp up their investments to compete at the top of the American, and they are running models based on Houston's investments while in the AAC.
So that's why UNT never added baseball in C-USA!! They were prepping for a move to another conference!!!
AAC should get Dallas Baptist as a baseball affiliate. This would give an even number of teams which is important for baseball scheduling, and also produce a divisional split that would reduce travel somewhat.
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Word on UNT adding baseball. (Post-expansion AAC likely #3-4th baseball league)
) and a few weeks ago they beat us in basketball (we were also the big favorite in that one...