WAC Jack Podcast Episode 1

Hey everyone I wanted to let you know that Jack Hopkins, formerly of bobcat report has a new show on the as-yet-revealed podcast network.

So think of this show as a sister podcast on which you will hear lots of college football goodness.

LINK



Talk about this post on twitter and on the Forum

Resurrection of the WAC?

I'm not sure how many people still care, but it looks like the WAC will actually survive as some type of a football conference. Scott Bilo of Bilo Football and Power Rated Sports was at WAC media day in Vegas a day early and was able to cozy up with Jeff Hurd and other WAC administrators. Evidently the WAC will be announcing football additions within the next couple of weeks, and Seattle and Denver have considered adding programs. Meanwhile, UT Arlington has laid off plans to restart their football program. Should have known that was all hot steam to give them leverage during conference realignment madness. TAMUCC pulled the same move on the Southland Conference and came out smelling like a rose.

The most likely explanation for the WAC's sudden additions would be a merger with the Big Sky. Idaho and/or NMSU stop kidding themselves about going independent and move down to FCS. That would put the conference's membership at Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Weber State, Northern Arizona, Eastern Washington, Sacramento State, Portland State, Northern Colorado, North Dakota, Southern Utah, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (?), UC Davis, Idaho, and New Mexico State. The BIG WAC conference.

Of course normally I would link to Scott's tweets from last night but evidently Twitter is down right now. Smack dab in the middle of WAC Media Days. This conference just can't catch a break.




EDIT: According to a series of tweets from Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune, it sounds like it's a core group of southeastern schools trying to save the WAC, not the Big Sky.

Talk about this post on twitter and on the Forum

Episode 24: Sombrero

This is the Wed night edition of the show -- Jared is throwing a margarita party on our usual Thurs for his birthday so he booted us! -- We talk spring practice, injuries, complicated offenses and defenses and more --- podcast@cokerchronicles.com

Danny Mac article we were referencing: LINK

You can find the links to the episode on the iTunes on Stitcher or just subscribe directly to the podcast.

Enjoy!

Episode 18: Mega Conference

Jared takes sick leave, Darrell from RowdyReport.com fills in. We talk Kevin Brown: new offensive coordinator, Basketball struggles, Mega-Conference, UTSA to the Sun Belt?, and other fun stuff.

Also, I postponed the voicemail stuff until later this week/next week. I am just working some of the kinks out. Thanks to the people who have left a message; we'll play our favorites on the podcast soon.


Audio links:

or here.

We also mentioned contributing: podcast@cokerchronicles.com

You can leave a voicemail for us at 210 701 0763. Keep it under a minute and we may play it on the podcast. Leave a comment, ask a question -- your choice. Bow before the magic of Google Voice!

Episode 17: Ugly Games

We fight through some slight technical difficulties. Jalen James in a car wreck, Wilkins granted sixth year, UTSA 59 - SELU 51, Karl Bensen to Sun Belt and the UTSA implications, Basketball Schedule talk and fearless predictions! Also the big Jared Rant about UTSA Athletic Marketing

Audio links:

or here.

We also mentioned contributing: podcast@cokerchronicles.com

You can leave a voicemail for us at 210 701 0763. Keep it under a minute and we may play it on the podcast. Leave a comment, ask a question -- your choice. Bow before the magic of Google Voice!

Episode 14

Podcast is up! Click the link to the feed or click HERE

Dec 17 Games: Breaking Records and Failed Bits

Failed bit alert: The live chat/blog of the bowl games, high school football playoffs, soccer, Spurs basketball, and Cowboys game was a non-good.

The games were good, especially the high school stuff and I found myself watching those more than the bowl games. I missed some good stuff by doing so. Such is the problem with new media: There are more ways to watch sporting events but still only 24 hours in which to do it.

High School Games:

Aledo and future Longhorn Jonathan Gray, won. I am not the guy to talk to when it comes to evaluating his game. I've only seen the highlights and hadn't seen him play until yesterday. It is obvious that he has speed and shiftiness that makes him stand out from the rest of the kids he plays with. Insert Man Among Boys Cliche Here.



Kenny Hill led Southlake-Carroll with a Cam Newton-like performance down the stretch. Putting your best athlete at quarterback, where they touch the ball every offensive play, is pretty standard football strategy dating back to the birth of the game. Fort Bend Hightower did the same with future Aggie Bralon Addison. If you like watching run-spread quarterbacks, then this was an awesome game. It was a tight, close game that Carroll closed out by running Kenny Hill every play on the last drive to ice the game.


Steele HS lost in their bid for a back-to-back state title. I'm torn on this. I lived in Schertz-Cibolo during high school and went to Clemens. My little brother and sister went to Steele. Schertz isn't the same as when I lived there -- there is a Starbucks within the city-limits now -- you don't need to drive to the Forum anymore. As such I'm glad that my former neighborhood got there ... but I wish it was Clemens that was hoisting state titles, ya know?

Bowl Games:

Temple and Wyoming played a pretty unexciting game compared to the high school stuff that was going on at the same time. I mean, the SLC-FBH title game had 42,800+ while two of the three bowls had mid-twenty thousand attend (the New Orleans Bowl had 42K).

Watching Temple destroy anyone, let alone in a bowl game is ultra weird. Remember they got booted from the Big East for being terrible? Al Golden resurrected them and now Steve Addazio has continued that tradition. I doubt the bowls will be denying Temple a bid next time they go 8-4 (like last year). They have a punishing run game, racking up 255 yards on FIFTY ONE carries. There is a lot of scheming involved in even the most physical of running attacks but football often does come down to one big guy shoving another big guy out of the way. It is something to behold. I'm happy for them up there.

Ohio and Utah State finished a point apart. Hurm, unsurprising :

Utah State is WAC brethren and had the craziest 2-5 start ever. They lost to Auburn in a game they had one multiple times, lost in OT to Colorado State (where they tried to go for the win in a ballsy move) by one, lost to BYU the following week by a field goal, then to Fresno State by ten and La Tech by one touchdown. They then ripped off five wins by equally razor-thin margins (an average of 3.8 points including an OT win). I'm sure this will be a close, exciting game. Go Aggies.

I'm interested to see what Utah State does next year. These kinds of seasons can either demoralize a team or energize them during the off-season. It is easy motivation for everyone. They were already a good team. Look for them to get better results next season.

Ah the New Orleans Bowl. This is probably the best non-BCS bowl to go to aside from the Vegas one. An excuse to go to The Big Easy with a bunch of college buddies? Awesome. Admittedly, I checked out while this was on. I was watching the Spurs play a pre-season game while doing fiddling around with my budget (such an adult now). I'm going to try and find some time to watch the fourth quarter. ULL quarterback Blaine Gautier tossed three TDs and threw for 470 yards, setting a school record for yards and scores (surpassing fellow Cajun Jake Delhomme) and a bowl record for yardage (passed Troy's Corey Robinson's 387).

It has become a cliche to rag on the number of bowls and the mediocrity of the participants. While the casual fan may scoff at the lack of star-power at these things they do serve a purpose and when done right, they can be awesome. UTSA wasn't eligible (and won't be for a couple more seasons) for a bowl this season. Imagine, if you will, that we got into the Poinsettia Bowl (San Diego), Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise) or the Hawai'i Bowl (Duh)? It remains to be seen how well the UTSA base will travel, but that realities aside, how awesome would that be right now? It is December in SA, wet and rainy and fairly miserable -- wouldn't it be awesome to be planning your trip to San Diego or Hawai'i right now?

For the bigger schools who have Rose Bowl aspirations and the fan bases that are used to seeing their squads play in huge national television games every weekend, the Potato Bowl is lame. For smaller programs it is much more appreciated. There are very valid arguments for abolishing the whole thing but old reasons for the system's genesis --money for the organizers and a cool trip for the participants -- still hold up for the other bowls. 

North Texas, my alma mater hasn't been to a bowl game since 2004. I've yet to experience one as a student nor an alumnus. I am totally down for going to a "crappy, no-name" bowl with a 6-4 record.

Bowling: Dec 17th Games

This is the best time of year. Bowl games are gratuitous, fairly meaningless and numerous. When your team doesn't make one? Well it suucks.

With UTSA ineligible for a while, we have nothing to take from these games than what we did before we had a team. So what is a Runner to do? Well, we are going for WAC teams (future not current-but-leaving) and Texas teams. Why? Well those are the rules buddy.

If you are unfamiliar with how this all works, don't worry. We'll break down each and every bowl so you know what the hell is going on in this world. Capice?

Gildan New Mexico

Temple (8-4, 5-3 MAC) vs. Wyoming (8-4, 5-2 MWC)

Albuquerque, N.M.

University Stadium

Dec. 17 2 p.m. ESPN

What?

The New Mexico Bowl is fairly new. It began in 2006 and is the only annually nationally televised event in the state. Gildan makes outdoor wear and is in the first year of sponsorship..  This game began by featuring MWC and WAC teams and has moved on to include Pac-12 teams. This year, they have put Temple in there for some reason.

Famous Players


James Jones, currently of the Packers formerly of San Jose State.

Interesting Tidbit


This bowl has already had some high scoring games. Highest point total belongs to BYU last year. They put up 52 on UTEP. Also, here are their logos over the years:

Teams


Temple is interesting under Steve Addazio, former Florida co-head coach and coordinator. He leads a scrappy bunch that beat up on crappy teams. That's okay, though because for a long time Temple couldn't even do that. It is good to see Bill Cosby's alma mater good again. Wyoming may not be interesting at all but all their four losses are nothing to be ashamed of. Nebraska is more talented, Utah State is surprising good and TCU and Boise State had BCS aspirations all season.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Ohio (9-4, 6-2 MAC) vs. Utah State (7-5, 5-2 WAC)

 Boise, Idaho

Bronco Stadium

Dec. 17 5:30 p.m. ESPN

What?

You may remember this thing as the Humanitarian Bowl, or the Crucial.com Humanitarian Bowl, or the MPC Computers Bowl, or ht U Drove Humanitarian Bowl. This is the one on the blue turf in Boise. Interestingly, you have to provide your own sponsor, stay at a hotel for a minimum amount of time and purchase your own seats if you get invited. 2001 UCLA decided that that was stupid and declined the invite. Boise State has the most appearances (four, going 3-1).


Famous Players

There are a few on the list but I'll go with former Cowboy Woody Dantzler.

Interesting Tidbit

The ACC has the most appearances and most wins (5-2).

Teams

Ohio bested the MAC East with and dropped a heartbreaker to Northern Illinois. They were up 20 at halftime and lost 23-20. Utah State is WAC brethren and had the craziest 2-5 start ever. They lost to Auburn in a game they had one multiple times, lost in OT to Colorado State (where they tried to go for the win in a ballsy move) by one, lost to BYU the following week by a field goal, then to Fresno State by ten and La Tech by one touchdown. They then ripped off five wins by equally razor-thin margins (an average of 3.8 points including an OT win). I'm sure this will be a close, exciting game. Go Aggies. 

R+L Carriers New Orleans

San Diego State (8-4, 4-3 MWC) vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (8-4, 6-2 Sun Belt)

New Orleans, LA

Mercedes-Benz Superdome

Dec. 17 9 p.m. ESPN

What?

This is probably the most fun bowl outside of the coastal ones and the BCS behemoths. Who doesn't want an excuse to go to New Orleans? Formerly known as the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts New Orleans Bowl, it has been sponsored by R+L Carriers since 2006. The matchp is between the CUSA and the SunBelt. I was looking forward to going to this thing at least a couple times during my stay in Denton given that UNT went to four straight from 2001 to 2004. 

Famous Players

How about Schertz's own Scott Hall? The former Samuel Clemens Buffalo quarterbacked the Mean Green in the early part of the decade. 

Interesting Tidbit

The payout is a measly 325K.

Teams

San Diego State is making it's first appearance in the bowl, as they are from the MWC. It is difficult to tell how good the Aztecs were as they lost similar games to Wyoming (good ones) including their matchup with the Cowboys in early November. Losing to Michigan, Boise State, and TCU is not bad. University of Louisiana at Lafayette actually hosted the NO bowl back in 2005 when the Superdome was wrecked by Katrina. This is also their first appearance but that is because they have sucked for a while. Thanks to a surprising season and a down year from traditional Sunbelt powers MTSU and Troy, ULL found itself with a nice season. Were it not for even more surprising seasons from Hugh Freeze's 10-2 Arkansas State and a 7-5 Western Kentucky,  the Ragin Cajuns might be in a slightly better bowl. 

Last Post before Kickoff

Photo courtesy of the Express News

Nine hundred eighty-nine days of anxious, sometimes painful waiting are about to end. At 1:00 pm on Saturday the first ever University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners football team will emerge from a dark tunnel at the Alamodome in front of a nearly sold out crowd. Years of preparation and planning, millions of dollars, and an unquantifiable amount of sweat and hard work have gone into building an FBS football program that San Antonio can, and should, be glad to call their own. Due to class, work, pep rally, etc. this will be my last post until after the game. As always, follow @CokerChronicles on twitter for constant updates this weekend.

For someone who has been around UTSA for awhile, this past month has been remarkable. Campus, and arguably San Antonio itself, has been revamped. I remember how shocked and disgusted I was when I stepped onto campus my freshmen year to find UTSA students wearing other colleges' garb, traveling to College Station and Austin to support a university that they never have, nor never will, attend, and failing to support an always competitive, sometimes brilliant, men's basketball team.

Enter UTSA football.

The past two weeks of school this year have been an absolute joy for me. Campus is a 30,000-deep sea of orange and blue, football talk dominates all conversation and small talk, and students are finally proud to declare themselves UTSA Roadrunners... without the "but I'll probably transfer to UT next year" suffix.

Without taking Saturday into account, my fondest UTSA football moment thus far has almost nothing to do with football. On November 11th, 2010, UTSA officially joined the Western Athletic Conference. UTSA will be the fastest school in NCAA history to transition from zero football to bowl-eligible football. The WAC will also provide increased opportunities and exposure for athletes in every sports program the University sponsors, while bringing the school and city into a national spotlight.

I will never forget the 30 minutes leading up to the WAC invitation acceptance press conference. I read on Facebook (while in class, great student I am) that UTSA would be holding a press conference in the upcoming minutes. I swiftly shoved all of my crap into my backpack and sped to find the room where the press conference was being held. I wasn't the only one. I ran into a couple of guys that I wasn't too fond of due to previous altercations. In a moment of euphoria, we put aside our petty differences and sprinted to find the press conference where we would shove our way into a room over-spilling with cheerleaders, athletes, band members, fans, boosters, administrators, and coaches-- all beaming with excitement.

This moment sums everything up for me. Football is so much more than a game. It has already provided educational opportunities to over 90 young men, while also leading to new opportunities for female student-athletes thanks to Title IX. Football gives us a higher identity; it makes us a part of something bigger than ourselves. And most importantly, it bands us together as human beings. Many say that football is a religion in the South. I wholeheartedly agree. Whether UTSA goes 0-50 the next four years or is "Still Undefeated" come bowl eligibility, the University has already been "saved" and Saturday will be our first Communion. Thank you all for reading/listening/following, and get ready for a full year of terrific content. Go Runners.

 --Jared

 *** 

It is weird. My birthday is Saturday. My present is Hometown Football. While a good portion of the Site's followers so far are alums or students, I represent the City -- perhaps only in my head but it that is just as well. I remember when the Dome was built. I wanted to believe Red McCombs would bring us the Vikes. I wanted Tom Benson to bring us the Saints, both before and after Katrina. I wanted Paul Tagliabue and then Roger Goodell to let us have pro football. There were lots of excuses from those owners and politicians and commissioners. I was too young and too naive to know how this world worked.

In my adult-college-grad form I became a lot more patient. When UTSA announced they were fielding a squad I happily read the news from my Denton apartment while telling myself to be calm.

 Settle down. It is going to take about five to ten years to get it all up and running.

 Nope.

It is weird. It was fast tracked. It is here. We have our own team. You don’t need to hold a degree from UTSA . Just need some years put in the Alamo City or Countdown City or SA-Town.

I’m excited for you if you are an alum, though. I have lots of friends who went to UTSA and had to make do with only basketball. This isn’t New York. Texas doesn’t get down with any other sport like it does for football. I love me some basketball but it doesn’t get 55,000 people in one place quite the same way that football can. College football provides is a spectacle unlike any other collegiate sport and more personal than any pro outfit can muster. Your school football team is a super-connection to your college years.  I get decked out in green & white for my alma mater and blog and tweet and obsess. I am glad that my buddies get that experience.

San Antonio isn’t just Silver and Black. It is Orange and Blue.

--Adam


Also ...

I really want to thank everyone for showing us some love. What started out as just a blog has turned into a whole lot of fun. Can't wait for Saturday.

Go Runners

TAMU to SEC: What About UTSA?

Brent Zwerneman, TAMU beat writer for the Express-News and Houston Chronicle has the latest.

Dr Saturday on the latest Aggie to Southeastern Conference with loads of links.

This is ever-changing. As Doc Sat mentioned, this story went from fairy tale, wishful thinking rumor to damn near certainty in less than 72 hours.

Here is the quick and dirty:

A&M’s regents moved up their August 22nd meeting to Monday, the15th. The House of Reps in Texas will meet on Tuesday. Also meeting is the SEC heads over the weekend.

Barring some last minute maneuvering by Dan Beebe, who is known for his last second conference-saving prowess, it is looking like the Aggies will be playing SEC football come Fall 2012.

Like last year, that means a chain reaction effecting the entire nation begins. The WAC, UTSA portion is what we are concerned about. Houston is being considered,http://blog.mysanantonio.com/aggies/2011/08/aggies-out-uh-in-for-the-big-12/ if only through the strength of a self-recommendation. http://blog.chron.com/cougars/2010/06/letter-from-houston-area-lawmakers-to-big-12-officials/

That isn’t to say they are a good fit. Dave Ubben thinks it won’t happen.

Dan Beebe has even mentioned that the Big 12 (9) will not be expanding. That is not to be taken as gospel. Dan Beebe is not the most powerful man within the conference, despite holding the title of commissioner. DeLoss Dodds is looking at 20 names:

Local sports talk host Mike Taylor summed that up thusly:

I tend to agree given Dodds' quote at face value. No doubt they are just being good conference members and doing research for a league-wide meeting *wink*. That said, twenty names is a lot and makes it extremely difficult to gauge the direction of college football.

Credentials for new members are not based solely on wins and losses, but distance, money, television markets and most likely: the Texas Legislature. As Chip Brown learned: The lawmakers in Austin are important enough to require maneuvering by the A&M Board of Regents. There are many in the state legislature that don't want this to happen and may still make it difficult. Like in 2010, all the Texas schools will undoubtedly seek to make known their desires and stakes in the matter. The two most politically powerful university systems will now square off while strategically powerful backers of Baylor, Tech, Houston and others hold key votes on the matter.

Where does that leave UTSA? Well, there are really an exhausting number of possibilities if that twenty names thing is real. Even if he is bluffing like a jilted boyfriend/girlfriend would by proclaiming "I totally have like, so many other [chicks/guys] that want to date me anyway" , it still is really up in the air.

Looking at the likely scenarios is most prudent.

Guide:
Likelihood: Why they are in the conversation
Relevant stats and info: Reasons, financial and otherwise, for adding or ignoring the rumor.

U of Houston
Likelihood: Mentioned by outgoing A&M as a good replacement.
Relevant stats and info: Seating capacity of 32,000, relatively little support for a city as large as Houston. There are a lot of former Louisianans living in Houston which may split the viewing audience between the Big 12 and SEC. The lone strength of the Houston bid may be mitigated by that one fact.

TCU
Likelihood: The favorite of media types and very obvious
Relevant stats and info: Seating capacity of 47,000 and renewed interest in the program. Despite the good news, TCU only has around 10,000 students enrolled and most detrimental, is located in Big XII country. The Dallas-Fort Worth market is already home to Big XII HQ, has a large Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech and Baylor alumni base and hosts the annual clash between Texas and OU. There is precious little to be gained from adding TCU other than a tougher schedule and perhaps a slight prestige boost. TCU is not as rich (endowmently speaking) nor nearly as politically powerful as Texas A&M. They also recently committed to the Big East.

UTEP, SMU, Rice
Likelihood: Texas schools so they come up as possibilities.
Relevant stats and info: UTEP is closer California than Dallas. SMU faces the same problems as TCU. Rice faces similar problems to U of H but with a lesser team.

UNT
Likelihood: They are in Texas
Relevant stats and info: New Stadium (Apogee Stadium)! New coach, large enrollment and equally large alumni base. UNT bid suffers poor support (measly endowment) and the location. It is in the DFW area.

UTSA
Likelihood: Texas team!
Relevant stats and info: Nearly the same enrollment as UNT, large stadium, lots of pre-support. Lots of excitement. Big city from which to draw revenue. Problem here is the obvious: it is a new program. Tossing such a fledgling into the grinder that is the Big XII (9) would be program suicide.

Other Rumors:

This is where UTSA factors in. The SEC will likely add a 14th team and some say even all the way up to a mind-boggling 20 teams. The likely candidates (or the ones that are tossed around as possibilities) are Miami, Florida State -- has reportedly been in talks for months http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Florida-State-joins-Texas-A-amp-M-in-the-SEC-rum?urn=ncaaf-wp4902 -- Oklahoma and Okie State, Virginia Tech ( said they’d politely decline ). The Pac-12 might be re-interested in the Big 12 south sans Aggieland, too. Likely sticking point? The Longhorn Network.

Don’t forget about the Big Ten (12). They’ve already mentioned they’d like to expand some more. Last year the first (big) mover was Neb/Colorado. They smaller conferences made their moves after*. After A&M makes the switch, the Big East will take a stab at the remaining conference members of the ACC and vice-versa. They’ll also look to pick apart the CUSA.

*I know BYU, Boise, and Utah moved also and when.

My concern is that the WAC will be so picked over and helpless that it fails and/or turns into the Sunbelt. After the Super Conferences funnel take in an even larger portion of the pie how much will be left for the smaller conferences?

Fearless Predictions:

I’ve already started this blog out with a terrible lowball first game attendance prediction. Good news: I’m human. You needn’t fear me. Bad news: I’m still pretty awesome. You probably should fear me.

Here goes:

A&M moves to SEC. SEC makes a run at an ACC team (either Va Tech, Clemson, Fla State or Miami). Depending on how many they poach, ACC starts poaching from CUSA/Sunbelt (East Carolina, Troy, MTSU or one of the FIU/FAU). Sunbelt/WAC either merge remaining teams or some combination of the remaining organize themselves.

The BiG 10 (12) will only look at former Big 12 North teams. Texas goes independent.

There. Nice and general-like to give myself room to say I was right. Like an awesome guy would.

***


Most likely this article will be outdated and useless about halfway through Saturday. Check back for more updates and we’ll be most definitely talking about this on the podcast on Tuesday night. You can email questions and suggestions to podcast[at]cokerchronicles.com. Put “podcast” in the subject line so we know it is a question and we don’t miss it.

Link Roundup 8/11/2011 R.I.P. Big XII Edition

R.I.P. Dan Beebe's Big XII conference

A ton of big news is coming out today, and I'm not just talking about the Big XII.

UTSA, Clear Channel reach football broadcast agreement [GoUTSA.com]

The UTSA Athletics Department announced Thursday that it has reached a multi-year agreement with Clear Channel Communications, Inc., to broadcast all 10 football games and a weekly coach’s show as part of the Roadrunners Sports Network during the inaugural season.

Andy Everett, co-host of “The Morning Drive” on Ticket 760 AM and the voice of the UTSA men’s basketball team since 2007, will be the play-by-play announcer, while Ed Suarez will handle color commentary. 

All 10 game broadcasts will feature two-hour pregame and one-hour postgame shows and will be carried live in the San Antonio area on KRPT-FM 92.5 The Patriot. All games also will be streamed for free online at goUTSA.comand on 925thepatriot.com. 

Everett also will host a weekly show with head coach Larry Coker, which will air live from Stonewerks Big Rock Grille at The Rim on Ticket 760 AM from 7-8 p.m. each Wednesday during the season beginning on August 31.

The hype machine continues to roll. It's great to see how strongly the local media has embraced UTSA athletics in the past two years. The Ticket 760 has steadily increased their coverage of the Roadrunners with pre and post game shows for basketball as well as general UTSA banter on The Morning Drive and other shows (shout outs to Andy Everett and Peter Burns for catalyzing that). Kens5 and WOAI have been showing mad love to UTSA as well, specifically during our NCAA tournament run and after the Fiesta Spring game. This Clear Channel football agreement is one more step towards cementing UTSA as San Antonio's team. The show at Stonewerks is a really cool idea, hopefully that will be a video stream. If you ever want to buy Larry Coker a beer, you now know where to find him.

Season ticket sales outlook [utsafootball.wordpress.com]

Very interesting look at UTSA's pace of season ticket sales. If UTSA's rate of sales is sustainable, we're looking at numbers that will put us in the midst of MWC and CUSA peers (11-12k). Come at us, bros. Click the link para más.

UTSA notebook: ticket sales, facility update and more - Dan McCarney [mysa.com]

Huge update from our boy Dan McCarney who is also finally on twitter, well sort of at least.

At the top of the list being said ticket sales, which are at 9,603 for season packages as of Thursday afternoon. Altogether — season, single game, student, etc. –  the Roadrunners have reserved or sold roughly 38,000 tickets with roughly three weeks until the opener against Northeatern State on Sept. 3.

That’s 27,000 away from a sell-out, but it sounds like the Roadrunners are going to redouble their efforts in order to at least make a run at the modern start-up record of 49,212, set by South Florida in 1997.

Notice I wrote, “at least.”

So evidently a lot of people in the front office truly believe that a full Alamodome sell out is possible. I don't know what kind of last-push marketing effort the Athletics Department has brain stormed but I highly doubt 65k tickets will be individually purchased. Now if a booster or group of boosters buys a couple ten thousand tickets and donate them to service members and under-privileged school children as I've heard rumored, then that is a very different story, and a very awesome one at that. Can't wait to see how this ends up.

Just today, Roadrunners officials finally squeezed costs for the initial phase, which also includes about $5 million in infrastructure work (roads, parking lots, electricity, etc.), under the $22.05 budget. As of now, there are no funds available to build what the Roadrunners need most, a practice facility for their new football team.

A conservative estimate by associate athletic director Brad Parrott pegged the cost for two practice fields and a football building (which would include locker rooms, training rooms and meeting space for a full 105-member squad) at about $11.5 million. And barring a huge upswing in donations, that’s about $11.5 million the Roadrunners don’t have at the moment.

Dan also took a semi-in depth look at the facility problems that we've discussed before. I'm willing to bet that a booster does in fact step up to the plate. Incarnate Word got a huge donation from Saints owner Tom Benson, and I have a sneaking suspicion that another local multi-millionaire car dealer that has been a big proponent of UTSA football will one-up his competition and toss a few stacks Lynn Hickey's way. Here's to you, Red McCombs

No firm dates yet, but UTSA has received the general slate for its upcoming WAC schedules: In even years, home against Texas State, Utah State and San Jose State, on the road against Idaho, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech. Vice versa for odd years.

Meh. Louisiana Tech and Idaho are the two best teams in the WAC come 2012; would have loved to catch them hungover from the Riverwalk in year one. On the plus side, the road trip to Ruston is going to be sweet. Them boys know how to tailgate.

HUGE thanks to everyone that has listened to our first podcast episode. If you haven't heard it yet, you can find it here. We're excited to ramp up the quality of this puppy and get some sexy guests on the show. Next week we'll be primarily discussing conference expansion, it could get ugly.

Oh, one more thing. UTSA kick off after party.

UTSA's 2011 Off-Season Transfers

The fledgling UTSA fan base has been chirping with excitement and optimism this off-season. And it's not just because the young school's inaugural kick-off is just a month away. The UTSA coaching staff has been able to secure four high profile transfer players in the past couple of months, three of which come from Automatically Qualifying conferences (Big XII-2, SEC). While many, if not all, college football programs receive promising transfers that fail to pan out, I believe every transfer should be judged according to their own abilities and demerits. Even with tempered expectations, each of these transfers are a huge boost for a team simply from a depth stand point. Let's take a closer look at each:

Patrick Hoog (Oklahoma St., Medina Valley HS) - 6'4, 279 lbs.

A statuesque offensive lineman that bench presses north of quarter-ton, Hoog is (in my most humble opinion) the crown jewel of this crop of transfers. Coming into what is arguably the Roadrunners' most under-staffed position on the team at offensive tackle, Hoog brings a proverbial anchor to an immature, inexperienced offensive line that desperately needed a pillar of support. Hoog saw limited action throughout his two years under Mike Gundy and was expected to act as a sort of utility-lineman for the Cowboys in 2011. Since Patrick is moving down to FCS ball, he will be active to start on 9/3/11 as a redshirt junior. Hoog was named as an FCS Independent player to watch for this upcoming season. On top of his athletic accolades, Patrick was honored as an all-academic Big XII scholar. Watch for Hoog to dominate FCS and NAIA competition this season.

Lekenwic Haynes (Ole Miss., Rosenberg Terry HS) - 6'3, 225 lbs. 

Lekenwic Haynes was a highly recruited linebacker (ranked #52 in the nation) with an illustrious career in high school. In the past four years, Haynes has seen action at several defensive position but seems to have found his groove at defensive end. Lekenwic will be classified as a redshirt junior this season. Despite failing to find a consistent spot in the Rebels' defensive packages, Haynes had 7.5 tackles in five games in 2010, with most of his playing time coming against SEC opponents. Haynes was a constant presence on Ole Miss's special teams and forced a fumble on a kick off. My greatest fear for Lekenwic is that his position shuffling has stunted his technical growth, but considering that UTSA has a projected starting defensive end that has never played a football game on defense before... well beggars can't be choosers. Haynes received first-team all-FCS Independent defensive line honors from Phil Steele this off-season. I predict 5 sacks and 100 tackles for Haynes in 2011 if he stays at defensive end as anticipated.

Ashaad Mabry (Oklahoma St., MacArthur HS) - 6'3, 295 lbs.

Yet another transfer from Stillwater, Mabry never even moved in to his dorm from what I can gather. Perhaps the most impressive transfer from an athletic stand point, Mabry also comes with the most red flags. Ashaad was a late bloomer for the hometown MacArthur Brahmas but still managed to rack up several BCS offers during his senior year. The giant defensive tackle originally committed to Art Briles at Baylor, only to sign his Letter of Intent with Oklahoma St. On top of all that, Mabry is extraordinarily close to his extremely ill mother. Despite these concerns, Ashaad will most likely start at defensive tackle for the Roadrunners as a true freshman. At his best, Mabry is a stand-out player that draws double teams while stopping the run, and opens up blitzing lanes for teammates, which could be a huge plus in the 4-2-5 defense. At his worst, Mabry is a poor pass rusher that (supposedly) displays a lack of effort on occasion. Let's hope that Ashaad's mother regains her health and her son is able to develop into a stud. Prediction: 2 sacks, 70 tackles.

Chance Vernon (Stephen F. Austin, Gregory Portland HS) - 6'7, 335 lbs.

While Chance's transfer hasn't been officially acknowledged by the UTSA administration, I have it on a very good source (his facebook page, lolz) that he is already on campus and will be participating in practices this season. Unfortunately, Chance will be the only transfer unable to play in 2011 due to his transfer being from an FCS squad. Vernon has a behemoth frame that he has yet to completely fill out. A true example of the phrase "bookend tackle". Vernon was redshirted at SFA and will have three years of eligibility at UTSA. Not sure on his scholarship status.

Oddities

The WAC's lone bowl for the foreseeable future was just renamed to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. You think I'm shitting you, but I'm totally not. This is so stereotypical of the current WAC it blows my mind. Check out the delicious bowl logo though. Notice how the sour cream & chives make a mop of hair for the simile face on the football. TOO CUTE!

Link Roundup - 8/1/11

Picture courtesy of UTSA Athletics

Dan McCarney - The Dawn of UTSA football approaches [mySA.com]


We got our first post-WAC media day check-in from dear friend Dan McCarney over at the Express News UTSA sports blog. Dan points out the general sense of optimism from WAC officials in Las Vegas, the uphill battle administration faces in raising funds for D1 caliber football facilities, and touches on upcoming position battles afoot.

On the more practical matters, specifically UTSA’s first season, which will get underway on Sunday with the first official workout.

The Roadrunners are expecting 90 players to report on Friday. The vast majority of this year’s signing class have already been on campus with summer school, with the only absences being Madison RB Troy Williams (academics, legal issues) and Brenham DB Desmon Mathis (academics).

It’s the first of nine scheduled practices — all of which will be closed to the public and media, save the first 30 minutes — before the first game on Sept. 3, against Northeastern St.

Media day is next Tuesday, but considering how drastically the team is going to change with the influx of new players, I’m probably going to wait for a week or two before providing any significant preview material.

There are a handful of guys you can pretty safely pencil in for starting positions barring injury — players like QB Eric Soza, LB Steven Kurfehs and DB Mark Waters — but otherwise, I expect things will be fairly wide open.

As such, those position battles will even more notable than they would on a more established team. That should make for an interesting camp.

Wasn't aware that Desmon Mathis didn't qualify. Big loss from a talent perspective, but Coach Neathery has a swarm of stud secondary players to work with. Hopefully Desmon was able to get some work done in community college this summer and will be good to go for the fall. For those that hadn't heard, Troy Williams is currently facing sexual assault charges. I think the story sounds fishy so I'm going to reserve judgement until Troy has his day in court. Actually, I don't really care since it's safe to say he's DOA at UTSA. Yet again, a big loss in talent at a position the Runners are thankfully stacked at. These two hombres are case exhibit 1.0 as to why college football fans must curb their excitement when a 17 year old kids decides to play ball at your university of choice.

As far as position battles go, I've got my eye on Blake Terry vs. Brandon Reeves for the second linebacker spot. Reeves brings some valuable experience from his JUCO days in SoCal, while Blake is a high-ceiling athlete and extremely motivated. Reeves didn't do too much during this year's spring game, but it's hard to fault a guy that only had a few weeks of practice with the current regime. Some more promising battles are Josiah Monroe vs. Kam Jones at slot receiver and the two defensive end spots. I really like Jason Neill as a true freshman-- great frame and a nose for the ball. Kristian Bryant has a very high ceiling, while Marlon Smith showed great improvement throughout the past year. Ole Miss transfer Lekenwic Haynes will man one of the slots if he is not used as a Super Strong Safety™ in the 4-2-5. It's nice to have choices.

Tyler Mayforth -  The WAC's Future Salvation [San Marcos Daily Record]

Texas State and UTSA will save the Western Athletic Conference.

Think about it: What does the WAC need other than two football-playing schools?

Here’s a hint — it’s called a rivalry.

Right now, every other conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision has one.

cont.

In 335 days, the WAC will finally have two schools that are developing animosity for each other join its ranks. The Bobcats and Roadrunners can’t wait to get on the field with each other.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Texas State head coach Dennis Franchione said, downplaying his seething hatred for all things UTSA. “From what I watched during basketball season, this rivalry can get testy and adding football can only make it better.” 

Some good thoughts here from Texas State's resident beat writer, Tyler Mayforth. I'm glad he's starting to ditch his previously held pessimism regarding the WAC. This conference still has plenty of life and equity, despite however ugly 2012 might be. Rivalries are an excellent way to generate interest from fringe fans and instill pride in students. Ain't nothing more American than hatin' on the guy next to you. The I-35 rivalry is already a very good rivalry. I once watched Rowdy dip a bobcat doll in fake blood then rip it apart in front of the UTSA student section at a freaking volleyball game. Football is going to take this to whole new paradigms. I've already heard a lot of people with no connections to UTSA or State express interest in attending the first I-35 game in the Alamodome next year which is GREAT for both schools. I just hope ESPN picks it up.

Darrell Williams - Projected 2011 Two-Deep Roster [utsafootball.wordpress.com]

Roster projections are next to impossible for UTSA right now. So many moving parts and an infinitely small sample size to draw from. Check out Darrell's projections and let him know what you think, but don't be an anonymous ass wipe like "nobody" and bash him without offering up any alternatives, kapish? A few of my thoughts-- I have Josiah Monroe returning kicks and punts, Brandon Armstrong is definitely option #2 though. Have a feeling that Jason Neill is going to get a lot more burn this year than most are expecting. Darrell didn't even list him in his top four for D Ends. While Nielsen and Kazen are sure-fire tight ends, I think David Morgan is going to make some big catches when Coach Bush throws out a spread offense. I guess he technically wouldn't be a tight end in that situation though, huh? Charting out the offense and defense likes this really hammers home just how thin the Runners are going to be for the next two years. Keep the voodoo dolls on the shelf because injuries could decimate this team in a week's time.

UTSATailgaters - BREAKING NEWS!! UTSA vs UTEP (b-ball) [UTSATailgaters.com]
Really dig this. Always good to establish rivalries with fellow UT system schools. UTEP fans pack their stadium and it should be a great game considering how similar the two schools' seasons were last year. Thought about making the road trip but... yeah.

Oddities

I can't remember where I read this and my Google-fu is failing me, but I believe Football jerseys are being officially revealed on August 3rd. Don't quote me on that though.


Edit: Thanks Darrell, you're the man.

Episode 4 of "Birth of a Program" was the best in the series so far. Loved the music choices- Kid Cudi, Phoenix, etc. I've been really surprised at how often Fox Sports Southwest has been showing the program, ratings must be fairly decent. Incredible tool for UTSA. Can't wait to see the show continue to develop and improve with episode 5.

If you haven't heard already, UTSA landed a huge pick up in Ashaad Mabry recently. Mabry could be a game changer for the defense. Might do a full post on this at some point in time. Hat tip to Darrell at utsafootball.wordpress.com (Bookmark his site, dammit).