WTAMU Posters Football Expectations?

[ASUPops]

I was thinking about LSC football and all the comments about how WT needs to get back to the good old days of glory and it's winning traditions, blah, blah, blah.

Next came comments about how the LSC schools don't "align" with WT and how MIAA is a better fit, blah, blah, blah.

Next, how the almighty WT should move to D1 and how their former coach Hunter and their AD holds them down, blah, blah, blah.

Well, I ate the Maroon cookie and bought in for two years now, but I can no longer stand the arrogance of these DELUSIONAL fans.

Here are the facts. WT football has NEVER been great. In 114 years they won 10 conference championships. TEN IN ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN YEARS!!!!! And 4 of those were under Don Carthel.

This is HARDLY something to brag about!! And what good old days of WT football are we talking about??? WT has NEVER been a powerhouse in football. EVER!!! So,PLEASE stop the non-sense.

WT football has been bad or mediocre for 104 out of 114 years. THAT IS THE FACT. PERIOD.

The expectations that WT football is going to be a perennial powerhouse is delusional. And history proves that.

WT football does not even come close to these top 10 winning programs:

Grand Valley State
Valdosta State
West Chester
Indiana (Pa)
Bentley
Pittsburg State
Minnesota Duluth
CSU-Pueblo
Texas A&M-Kingsville
Carson-Newman

Now, I can understand if it were TAMUK who DOES have a history of being a powerhouse.

So, please stop the arrogance and delusional expectations. Support and enjoy your team. WIN, lose, or draw. Be a fan or don't be a fan.

Let WT PROVE for 10 straight years that they can win, bring home a natty, and THEN the nonsensical clatter might have some merit and be taken seriously.

[crixus]

Western New Mexico on the other hand, now there's a perennial powerhouse. ;) But seriously, WT's 10 championships in 114 years is good, but it's not great.

[ASUPops]

Western New Mexico on the other hand, now there's a perennial powerhouse. ;) But seriously, WT's 10 championships in 114 years is good, but it's not great.

REALLY???? That's 10 CONFERENCE championships, not nattys.

In 95 years, TAMUK has 7 natty's and 33 conference championships.🤷🏻

[crixus]

REALLY???? That's 10 CONFERENCE championships, not nattys.

In 95 years, TAMUK has 7 natty's and 33 conference championships.🤷🏻

I was being kind Pops. We WNMU fans have been humbled, were kinda' like the monks of the conference.:D

[ASUPops]

I was being kind Pops. We WNMU fans have been humbled, were kinda' like the monks of the conference.:D

🤣🤣🤣 I love you man!!

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

Shouldnt every die hard fans expectations to be a powerhouse and relevant in all sports?

Do I want WT to be a national championship team? You bet your a$$.

Realistically baby steps first and build a playoff team even if its a 7 seed getting blown out on the road first round.

UTPB pretty much did this overnight in the current climate with the transfer portal and Carthel did this without the portal 20 years ago.

WT had a quarterfinal and a semi-final playoff appearance (Something ASU has never accomplished at D2) so I would consider that pretty good.

The LSC is one of the weaker football conferences in the country so the expectations of eventually winning the LSC for the top half isnt that far fetched.

Being a playoff team will be a whole lot tougher starting in 2025+ with the realignments.

[Predatory Primates]

Being a legit contender is several orders of magnitude away from just making the playoffs in a down conference.

I don't know what holds the lsc back in general. They are in prime recruiting country, and seem to be financially competitive. They should be a pretty deep conference, but just haven't been most of the time. They have put out some great teams here and there, to be sure.

[Predatory Primates]

As for wt. I can understand having a taste and wanting more.

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

Being a legit contender is several orders of magnitude away from just making the playoffs in a down conference.

I don't know what holds the lsc back in general. They are in prime recruiting country, and seem to be financially competitive. They should be a pretty deep conference, but just haven't been most of the time. They have put out some great teams here and there, to be sure.

Last I checked there were 25 D1 schools in Texas so that's probably the top reason recruiting against those schools and then you add the out of state powers on top of that.

Just my opinion only but the stronger LSC teams over the last 20 years were built to "win now" and not over the long term like the MIAA, GSC, and GLIAC teams used to be.

I know in the past some limitation about the LSC not offering some sort of summer benefit that the other conferences did?

Brandon might refresh my memory to specifics.

Most of the time the LSC had the misfortune of being in the same region of some pretty darn good teams (NW Missouri, Colorado Pueblo, Minnesota State, Colorado Mines) during their primes.

[Herb Street]

I don't know what WT's overall record is, but if I recall correctly it's more average than anything else. It isn't bad and it isn't great. There were some successful eras, sandwiched by some bad to mediocre ones. Before the 1A-1AA split in the late 1970s, WT had a pretty mediocre 1970s (although two MVC championships in 77 and 79) but a pretty good 1960s with legit bowl appearances. After the 1AA split, which WT was a part of only for about 5 years, they had a couple of good years (beat OSU), then 83-84 awful, then 1985 when they were second in the MVC under the new coach Bill Kelly. They won the LSC in 1986, then things went gradually down hill until WT dropped football altogether.

Except for a very few years in the modern era, WT has seemingly had a vacuum in executive leadership that has held the school back significantly. That's where it seems that that it is currently. I don't have connections to athletics there but I do have friends in other leadership at the school, and the consensus is that the current executive leadership is aloof and completely tone deaf. A puppet of the Texas A&M system, which is delighted with him so long as there are no real problems. This would be the same system that fired Jimbo Fisher and paid him never $100 million to go away. A&M does care, just not about WT. How much of that transcends to athletics I don't know but I'm guessing quite a bit.

[Predatory Primates]

Didn't commerce do pretty well under the a and m system?

[Herb Street]

Didn't commerce do pretty well under the a and m system?

Before and after Colby Carthel they did poorly and are generally non-competitive in all sports. They won one game this year in football.

[BuffaloChip]

As a fan, booster, and long-time $ contributor to WT athletics I have not given up on WT FB.

However, today's FB world with the portal does not lend itself to 3/4 year building processes. Win NOW is what counts. I agree with an earlier post that accurately pointed out the UTPB last second loss in a game seemingly already won as the catalyst for an underwhelming first year for Lynn.

Let's be on point. IMO, Lynn doesn't have a 3/4 year window to make inroads into the top 2/3 spots in the LSC. He better do it this fall I'm sure Lynn agrees with that. You have to win NOW. Win THIS year. Worry about next year, next year. Getting a kid who takes 3 years to develop into a starter is a kid who can't help you win NOW. So......the old focus of "building" a program with kids who will stay the course for 4/5 years just won't work nearly as well today. Yes, you still need those 4/5 year kids on the squad. Kids like Cavender who buy in, have talent, and are the bedrock of a team. But, you better go out and recruit TALENT. NOW. Good coaches are good coaches. Lynn is a good coach. McCullough is a good coach. It all comes down to which coach can recruit TALENT and put it on the field

So, I expect Lynn to have WT in the top 2/3 this year. If not, then our AD must take a close look at the situation and if necessary, start looking elsewhere. It's a tough business. Only the tough survive at the top. And only the toughest (and best recruiters) stay there.

[Predatory Primates]

Before and after Colby Carthel they did poorly and are generally non-competitive in all sports. They won one game this year in football.

Sounds like coaching and recruiting is the issue to me, and not being under a and m's thumb?

[Predatory Primates]

As a fan, booster, and long-time $ contributor to WT athletics I have not given up on WT FB.

However, today's FB world with the portal does not lend itself to 3/4 year building processes. Win NOW is what counts. I agree with an earlier post that accurately pointed out the UTPB last second loss in a game seemingly already won as the catalyst for an underwhelming first year for Lynn.

Let's be on point. IMO, Lynn doesn't have a 3/4 year window to make inroads into the top 2/3 spots in the LSC. He better do it this fall I'm sure Lynn agrees with that. You have to win NOW. Win THIS year. Worry about next year, next year. Getting a kid who takes 3 years to develop into a starter is a kid who can't help you win NOW. So......the old focus of "building" a program with kids who will stay the course for 4/5 years just won't work nearly as well today. Yes, you still need those 4/5 year kids on the squad. Kids like Cavender who buy in, have talent, and are the bedrock of a team. But, you better go out and recruit TALENT. NOW. Good coaches are good coaches. Lynn is a good coach. McCullough is a good coach. It all comes down to which coach can recruit TALENT and put it on the field

So, I expect Lynn to have WT in the top 2/3 this year. If not, then our AD must take a close look at the situation and if necessary, start looking elsewhere. It's a tough business. Only the tough survive at the top. And only the toughest (and best recruiters) stay there.

Lynn is a system guy. It'll take a minute to get that option thing rolling, imo.