Monthly Archives: January 2011

Spoke with Texas State Director of Athletics Dr. Larry Teis at halftime of the women’s basketball game and here is what I gleaned…

• Teis looked into an FCS team to come to San Marcos for the home opener, but all of the schools wanted a home-and-home series. Since Texas State is going to the FBS in 2012, the Bobcats are unable to agree to that deal.
• With Texas State deemed FBS transitional in 2011, the school was able to schedule 12 games instead of 11.
• Teis is in the process of talking with about 20 FBS teams to lock down the 2012 season opener. He told me those schools were in conferences like the Mountain West, Conference USA and Sun Belt.

USA Today and ESPN released its 2011 Preseason Top 25 Coaches’ Poll this afternoon. You can take a look at it here — CLICK THESE WORDS.

Texas State will play six teams this season who either were ranked in the preseason or received votes. The Bobcats take on No. 2 TCU, No. 7 Texas, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 17 Rice, No. 24 Arkansas and Baylor (also receiving votes).

The 2011 season starts Feb. 18 when Texas State hosts Nebraska, Missouri State and Air Force for a tournament.

Talked with someone in the Texas State athletic department yesterday at the basketball game and confirmed the Bobcats won’t be playing TCU in 2011.

So Texas State might meet up with TCU in Week 3 of the 2011 season, giving the Bobcats four consecutive road games to open the slate (Texas Tech, Wyoming, TCU and Stephen F. Austin). With the news of Texas State playing the Horned Frogs again, it reminds me of a conversation I had with former head coach Brad Wright about scheduling.

When Wright took over as head coach in 2007, he told me he asked Texas State Director of Athletics Dr. Larry Teis to not schedule three teams as long as he was head coach — TCU, Houston and Texas Tech — because the Bobcats would lose face in front of in-state recruits.

Who did Texas State play in 2009? TCU. Who did the Bobcats play in 2010? Houston. And who is Texas State slated to play in the 2011 season opener? Texas Tech.

Here is a list of Texas State head coach Dennis Franchione’s new assistant coaches and their responsibilities:

I’m sure by now many of you have seen the new deal the University of Texas got from ESPN. The network will pay the Longhorns $300 million over a span of 20 years to broadcast Texas’ games and such.

With the yin, comes the yang, and while it’s not directly related, it’s a shame in itself.

The University of Delaware announced today it would cut men’s cross country and outdoor track and field from varsity status to comply with Title IX. Last year, the Blue Hens regulated the men’s indoor track and field team to club status.

As many of you know, I graduated from the University of Delaware and ran four years of Division I cross country and track and field.

While Title IX is important in the grand scheme of things, it’s sad that after this year, no other male runners at the University of Delaware will be able to experience what I — and my teammates — did from 2003-07.

Texas State is close to landing another solid JUCO transfer.

The Bobcats, who already have Blinn College wide receiver Shaun Rutherford on campus, are close to reeling in Navarro College tight end Chase Harper, who also has offers from Nebraska and Miami. Harper had an offer from the Cornhuskers last season, but couldn’t join the team since he failed to qualify academically.

Harper, who is listed at 6-foot-4, 260 pounds, also played basketball at Navarro.

More on this as it develops.

New Texas State head coach Dennis Franchione hired Rice defensive line coach and special teams coordinator Craig Naivar this afternoon. Naivar will reportedly become the new defensive coordinator for the Bobcats. This will be his second stint with Texas State as he was the defensive coordinator under David Bailiff from 2004-06.

Had a brief conversation with Bob Asmussen, the Illinois beat writer at The News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill., about new Texas State offensive coordinator Mike Schultz. Asmussen covered Schultz when he was the offensive coordinator with the Fighting Illini.

On what type of offense Texas State fans can expect to see: “He wants to run the ball first and foremost. You saw what he did at TCU and that’s what he wanted to do at Illinois, but it was tough. He came in to Illinois with a quarterback (Juice Williams) already in place, so Mike had to adapt to him and not the other way around.”

On how much blame Schultz should take for the Fighting Illini’s short-comings as an offense in 2009: “I wouldn’t throw all of the blame at him. He was asked to do the impossible. I was surprised that he took the job. He was asked to take a position that didn’t fit him.”

On if he thinks Schultz will succeed at Texas State: “Mike is back in his comfort zone now. With his Texas roots, he’ll be able to recruit the area and build that program up. Going into the WAC couldn’t be a better situation for him.”