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GJ Winne

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Everything posted by GJ Winne

  1. Athletically, Sam would be fine in the SBC. They would have finished 7th of 14 in Directors' Cup points if they were in the conference last year. Their facilities are a joke. The only reason they're FBS today is the minimum attendance requirement was dropped a couple years ago. 14K is tiny.
  2. Nice to have someone talk nice about us for once.
  3. Can't be overstated. The combination of Denise Trauth and Larry Teis was just brutal for us, especially when trying to move to FBS was crippling. For you Longhorns - think of where you would be if Steve Patterson was your AD for 15 years and the president just couldn't be bothered. As CDC has been your messiah, so too has Kelly Damphousse been ours.
  4. Pretty spot-on, especially given that Craven is a UTSA homer and typically slights TXST. Why Texas State became a viable option for the Pac-12 Texas State was always considered a sleeping giant in the G5 ranks inside the Lone Star State. The university, which is perfectly situated between the growing metropolises of Austin and San Antonio in San Marcos, arguably the coolest college town in Texas, reported an enrollment of 40,487 in the fall of 2024. That trails only Texas A&M, Texas, Houston, and North Texas. But the Bobcats always lacked the two things necessary to turn hope into reality in athletics, and specifically in football: leadership and money. Texas State made a bold move to enter the FBS ranks ahead of the 2012 season, but the administration at that time lacked the foresight and will power to push for more. Texas State did enough to move up, but not enough to capitalize on that move. The result? Twelve seasons of subpar results from 2012-2022, which included only one winning season and no bowl trips. When the university was searching for a new president in 2022, it presented prospective hires with six bullet points. One of those was a thinly veiled cry to fix the football program so that the university could have a bigger national reach. Texas State eventually hired Dr. Kelly Damphousse, a Canadian-turned-Texan who understood the value of football for a university after stints at Oklahoma and Arkansas State. "The sixth bullet point was phrased as, 'a president who understands the value of athletics,' but I knew what that translated to," he told Dave Campbell's Texas Football back in 2023. If a rising tide lifts all boats, football is that tide. When I met the search committee, I said that if we can fix football, that will take care of a few bullet points, including the one about raising our national recognition." Damphousse worked quickly to build the realignment and buy-in behind the scenes that is vital for athletic success. He made Don Coryell the athletic director and hired G.J. Kinne to be the head coach of the football program ahead of the 2023 season. The Bobcats have won eight games and the bowl game in consecutive seasons and enter 2025 as one of the favorites to win the Sun Belt. With the proper leadership in place, the only thing left standing in the way was finances. Jake Spavital, who was the football head coach before Kinne, used his own money to buy jugs machines and practice equipment when he was hired ahead of the 2019 season. Finding money for proper nutrition was nearly impossible. The only weight room big enough to house the entire Bobcat football team was at the local high school. So was the only indoor football facility. Turns out, competent leadership also produces better fundraising. Texas State secured $30- plus million dollars for renovations of the Weisman Football Performance Center that included the addition of the William Trevilian IV Weight Room. The on-campus stadium recieved a facelift that included new field turf and a new name - UFCU Stadium. Those investments made it easier for Kinne and the Bobcats to attract the talent required to win at a high level. But as college athletics moved towards a revenue-sharing model that goes into place on July 1, even more was required. The Sun Belt's media rights deal paid roughly $2 million per school. Rivals like UTSA received more than double that amount in the AAC. Something needed to be done, and that meant conference realignment. Texas State turned down an invitation to join the Mountain West Conference a year ago with the belief that a bigger paycheck would become available. That occurred when the Pac-12 began searching for an eighth full-time football member. Texas State received the official invite from the Pac-12 on Thursday and plan to formally accept it on Monday during a regents meeting. While the final figures of the Pac-12 media rights deal are not yet public, the Bobcats will see an increase in pay regardless of if they receive a full share right away. The move should also help with fundraising and season ticket sales as games Oregon State, Washington State, and Boise State are sure to provide more excitement than Southern Miss and Louisiana-Monroe. Texas State's glow up is a perfect illustration of what can be accomplished when ambition meets alignment. The Bobcats are no longer in the shadows of their peers across the state like UTSA and North Texas. While the Pac-12 they're joining is not the Pac-12 of old, the AAC that their in-state rivals occupy is also not the AAC of old. Conference realignment has eroded the depth and quality of both of those conferences. But that doesn't mean this isn't a historic move for Texas State that will raise the national brand of the football program, and in turn raise the profile of the entire university. Texas State always knew how to win the tailgate. The Bobcats figured out how to win football games and how to win over their own fanbase. And it resulted in a move to arguablv the best G6 conference in existence. A sleeping giant no more, it'll be fun to see what the Bobcats can do now that their finances and leadership are clearly improved.
  5. Regents approve with no objections. TXST is headed west. Eat 'Em Up!
  6. This might have more punch if it didn't come from an alumni of a school that betrayed the conference in the 1st place. I do think they should drop the 12 and just be the PAC.
  7. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of this word.
  8. Apparently the formal invite has been extended and they'll vote it in Monday.
  9. That's because it's just about impossible to find a consistent gold from helmet to jersey to pants. We just went from a more mustard-ish gold to a shinier version and it looks so much better.
  10. I mean, we’ve been D1 for 40 years now…
  11. Very much so, although it would be nice to have Air Force and UNLV. Why the MWC and PAC2 didn't just merge is mind bottling. Even now, adding TXST to that mix for 14 would be better than a Pac8 and whatever the MWC is going to scrap together separately.
  12. Not really worried about Kinne running off anywhere any time soon. Unless he pulls a rabbit out of his hat and figures out a way to win 10 games this year, he's in SMTX for a couple more years. He has the rep of a Leach style offensive mind, but overall, I don't see that in our offense, other than flashes here and there. The plan and playcalling vs Baylor 2023 was glorious in it's execution, but that hasn't been the standard since. Leach wanted his players to find the green and get there - be/attack where the defense isn't. I know I'm always right as the armchair QB/OC who doesn't have to call the plays before he sees them, but I do find myself continually seeing giant gaps in the defense pre-snap and us just ignoring them. He's nowhere near ready for a P4 gig.
  13. Keff is the closest thing to a $9.95er as we have. Solid dude, good writer - was with the Statesman until they jettisoned everyone. He put out his early depth chart prediction this week. Starts at 12:00 in the youtube video.
  14. 2025 Sun Belt Conference college football projections, preview Texas State Bobcats Head coach: G.J. Kinne (third year, 16-10 overall) 2025 projection: 93rd in SP+, 6.1 average wins (4.1 in the Sun Belt) It's weird that we've gotten this far and haven't yet brought up the team that finished 48th in SP+ and nearly beat CFP-bound Arizona State last year, right? That probably tells you how much of last year's Texas State team is no longer in San Marcos. G.J. Kinne both inherited and defied perennially low expectations at TXST in each of the last two years, and he'll have a chance to do so again after losing his offensive coordinator (Mack Leftwich), starting quarterback (Jordan McCloud), leading rusher (Ismail Mahdi), top three receivers, three offensive line starters and 14 of the 18 defenders with at least 250 snaps last season. Kinne is a fearless transfer portal aficionado. He brought in another 36 transfers this season, including three quarterbacks (Pitt's Nate Yarnell, SMU's Keldric Luster and former Auburn blue-chipper Holden Geriner), eight skill corps guys and 19 defenders. This year's transfer haul is a mix of semi-proven G5 or smaller-school guys -- running back Greg Burrell (UNLV), slot receiver Tiaquelin Mims (Southern Miss), linebackers Ayden Jones (Prairie View A&M) and Cole Nilles (Bryant), corners Jaden Rios (East Texas A&M) and Malik Willis (Campbell), safety Javis Mynatt (Wofford) -- and young and unproven power-conference transfers. There are some former blue-chippers like Geriner, receiver Mavin Anderson (Cal), defensive tackle Bryce Carter (Virginia) and linebacker Terrence Cooks (TCU) in the mix as well. Kinne has quickly grown accustomed to asking members of a transient roster for immediate contributions, but when it came time to replace the Texas Tech-bound Leftwich, he went with a familiar face: Landon Keopple is a former small-school coordinator who joined up with Kinne about five years ago and understands Kinne's modern spread as well as anyone. A Kinne team is going to score points, but defensive improvement was a key piece of last year's first-ever top-50 finish. Coordinator Dexter McCoil returns star end Kalil Alexander (11 run stops, 6.5 sacks), and corner Trez Moore and safeties Ryan Nolan and Darius Jackson were decent rotation pieces last year, but most of the 2025 lineup will be new. That's an opportunity for improvement or regression. My guess is that the Bobcats defy projections once again, but if the defense falls off, that will be difficult.
  15. The upgrade that matters is the money. SBC has an absolutely shit media deal and our travel costs are double half the rest of the conference, which is particularly painful. [Allegedly] we'll go from ~$2M to $7-10M annually. As far as an upgrade competitively, there's no question about that. Better name recognition in the PAC, especially among mouth breathers. Damn sure better travel options for the fans - that's the one that most of my friends are excited about.
  16. You're a couple days late w/ the news, but it's appreciated none the less.
  17. As much as I like to shit on Sammy State, their stadium holds 14k. Granted, they're currently putting $60M worth of renovations into it, and will end up with a capacity of...14K. That's how high school the stadium is. I do agree they should be in FCS...but truth told, I think TXST should be too, and Rice and UNT and UTSA and UTEP and 40+ other current FBS schools.
  18. Right. The question mark was about the timing.
  19. TXST to the PAC8(?) to be announced soon? I think our deadline to be in/out of the Sun Belt is end of month. We also got a letter from the AD today, mostly rah-rahing us (w/ a donation link), but also talking about how we're all in, going to be expanding scholarships/paying players via the House Settlement deal, and those of us who have been paying attention know we're not writing all these checks w/ SBC money. President has been consistently subtweeting that we're going to the PAC as well as dropping hints in person.
  20. I haven't been, but TXST has played there a couple times recently and it has never been remotely crowded on tv (stream). Yes, I'm aware of the differences between our programs/fanbases - just saying. It holds 5200, so I wouldn't think you'd have any problem getting tickets. I'd call the Rice ticket office and ask them when single game tickets go on sale, and set yourself a calendar reminder to call back on that day. Can't imagine you wouldn't be able to get great seats, especially if you're early on the purchase.
  21. No need to go all that way. We got a dead body farm right here at home. https://www.txst.edu/anthropology/facts/labs/farf.html https://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/25/slideshow-body-farm/
  22. One of my fraternity brothers is a director for these cunts. Was pretty close to him in college and it has been one of the most disappointing evolutions to watch him go from one of the most liked, life of the party type guys to a grifting Trump sycophant. Going to CPAC, Mar a Lago to sniff the orange asshole, popping up on OAN or whatever to talk about how great their dear leader is and how buying their service helps get God back in this country...mind you, I saw him a couple weeks ago and the only thing he could talk about was when he came out to Lake Travis 20 yrs ago w/ me and got to see big fake tits out in the open and drink rum out of slut's bellybuttons. Not surprisingly, he's an SLC parent and one of the dickheads who pushed for the 10 Commandments in classrooms. Saw somewhere that Patriot Mobile candidates went 0-11 this weekend. No clue how accurate that is, but here's to more failure for those fucks.
  23. Kyle Finnegan pitched 1 inning today, with 1 strikeout. As of today, his career numbers are 300 strikeouts, in 300 innings pitched, in 300 games.
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