Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 18, 2026, 09:25:52 AMConstruction is underway on Southwestern's new football / multi-sport complex, but they are still raising funds to pay for the $9.2M complex (which includes a field house) as a new challenge grant was announced in late January.

QuoteFormer Trustee Brent Austin, in honor of his wife, Joanne Powers Austin '74, has generously pledged a $500,000 Challenge Match for the multi-purpose sport complex. This powerful gift comes at a pivotal moment, propelling us toward the final stretch of our $9.2 million goal. Now is the time to stand together, invest in the future, and bring this dream across the goal line.

The YT vid attached to the announcement shows a somewhat more modest rendering for the new Dice Field than earlier presentations.  Stands will only be present on the press box side (which has been the case throughout). 

When I drove past towards the end of February, the only visible signs of progress were a scraped off area with a huge mound of dirt piled in the middle, so they have their work cut out for them for the facility to be ready by the start of the 2026 season (not yet published) as planned. 

I'll have to drive by and see lol.  At least it doesn't have a track around it!

Updated the commitment tracker.  Getting to be a good number of kids coming in:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IC2_OyngCpyyrQ3pjQd0-_SPzQQY_ga1Z5znH-Q4Rg8/edit?usp=sharing

Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 10, 2026, 05:27:05 PMASC supporters are the latest to be forced to pay to watch their teams online as the conference will join the Flo$port$ mafia in 2026-27:  https://www.flosports.tv/2026/02/10/flosports-and-ncaa-division-iii-american-southwest-conference-asc-announce-exclusive-media-rights-partnership/

I have to guess viewership already sucked last year when they ditched the apps for most streaming devices. But yeah it sucks. Maybe we will get vod one day?

Huge update to the commits:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IC2_OyngCpyyrQ3pjQd0-_SPzQQY_ga1Z5znH-Q4Rg8/edit?usp=sharing

Starting to see a few kids commit to UMHB already.  4 through the portal (1 NAIA, 1 D3, 1 D2, and 1 D1) and two from HS.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IC2_OyngCpyyrQ3pjQd0-_SPzQQY_ga1Z5znH-Q4Rg8/edit?usp=sharing

Quote from: ASCleatus on December 22, 2025, 02:41:06 PM

Quote from: CruFrenzy on December 13, 2025, 08:18:55 PM

Quote from: Cowboy2 on December 08, 2025, 11:09:09 PMNot sure why HSUs back up RB is hitting the portal. Noah graduates and has the keys to be the man and leaves. Head scratcher 

I saw that and thought the same thing. A guy like Henry is exactly where he should've been and should have stayed. Not trying to be ugly but his ceiling was pretty much right where he was. A rotational back at HSU or starter if he put in the time and work. He did all the work and would have likely been the guy there and now portals after a decent backup season...

Lots of bad decisions being made in this portal era...

He is certainly 1000yd rusher at HSU as the full time runner. IMO could end up a better overall back than Garcia. He had 600 yards as the backup two years in a row. Has to be incredibly disappointing and frustrating for HSU to be losing him. Unlikey, but players can withdraw from the portal and stay.

I mean, he has a D2 and NAIA offer so far.  Other kid from HSU who transferred that I've seen is Micah Henderson who has 3 D2 offers so far. 

Quote from: crufootball on November 25, 2025, 08:34:11 AM

Quote from: D3Navy on November 24, 2025, 07:35:54 PM

Quote from: CruFrenzy on November 24, 2025, 12:59:27 PM

Quote from: Etchglow on November 23, 2025, 09:39:40 PMSince I was bored, I went and looked at the folks who have announced they were transferring from UMHB.  Only 9 of the 29 have offers.  7 of the offers are D3, 3 are NAIA, 2 are FCS, and 1 is for a community college.

Yup. Some of the guys I'm not mad at. The JV guys that saw the writing on the wall and just want to play somewhere, no problem. Then you have a guy like D Morris who likely lands on a good FCS or a low end FBS roster, I still don't like it but it's somewhat understandable. JJ Davis probably lands on a mid to low end FCS... I kind of get it but still think it's a mistake. Then you have guys like Battle III that had no business transferring out. Could have stayed and been a damn good corner on a really good defense but instead he jumped on the portal wagon after D Mo and JJ did and he's got no offers. Not saying he's not good enough to get offers but he doesn't have the same body of work yet as Morris or Davis did.. reminds me a lot of Dorien Hill playing 4 games last year in the playoffs and hitting the portal. He showed a ton of promise and might've been our best LB if he had returned this season but instead he hit the portal and got East Central and Trinity and went to Trinity.. that's basically Battle this year... maybe he will come back.

On the positive side of things it looks like we've kept everyone else so far. If that's all we lose we return a way more cohesive group than we have in a few years and will just need to find a few secondary guys to step up.

You got BJ Stewart, we got Dorien Hill.  Both fine athletes who found better fits.

Well I can't speak for everyone but I hope Dorien has a great game this weekend. 

Event if Dorien wasn't down there, I'd be rooting for Trinity this weekend

Quote from: D3Navy on November 24, 2025, 07:35:54 PM

Quote from: CruFrenzy on November 24, 2025, 12:59:27 PM

Quote from: Etchglow on November 23, 2025, 09:39:40 PMSince I was bored, I went and looked at the folks who have announced they were transferring from UMHB.  Only 9 of the 29 have offers.  7 of the offers are D3, 3 are NAIA, 2 are FCS, and 1 is for a community college.

Yup. Some of the guys I'm not mad at. The JV guys that saw the writing on the wall and just want to play somewhere, no problem. Then you have a guy like D Morris who likely lands on a good FCS or a low end FBS roster, I still don't like it but it's somewhat understandable. JJ Davis probably lands on a mid to low end FCS... I kind of get it but still think it's a mistake. Then you have guys like Battle III that had no business transferring out. Could have stayed and been a damn good corner on a really good defense but instead he jumped on the portal wagon after D Mo and JJ did and he's got no offers. Not saying he's not good enough to get offers but he doesn't have the same body of work yet as Morris or Davis did.. reminds me a lot of Dorien Hill playing 4 games last year in the playoffs and hitting the portal. He showed a ton of promise and might've been our best LB if he had returned this season but instead he hit the portal and got East Central and Trinity and went to Trinity.. that's basically Battle this year... maybe he will come back.

On the positive side of things it looks like we've kept everyone else so far. If that's all we lose we return a way more cohesive group than we have in a few years and will just need to find a few secondary guys to step up.

You got BJ Stewart, we got Dorien Hill.  Both fine athletes who found better fits.

I joke that we made a good trade lol!

Since I was bored, I went and looked at the folks who have announced they were transferring from UMHB.  Only 9 of the 29 have offers.  7 of the offers are D3, 3 are NAIA, 2 are FCS, and 1 is for a community college.

Quote from: crufootball on November 22, 2025, 09:54:31 PM

Quote from: Etchglow on November 22, 2025, 07:53:30 PM

Quote from: Mavchamp on November 22, 2025, 04:09:59 PMChristmas wish list.....

ASC recruits two-three schools to join the conference in the off-season

Wayland Baptist
Louisiana Christian
Sul Ross State
Nelson University
Centenary

I don't think Louisiana Christian will come back.  They just won 1/3 of the conference championship over in the sooner athletic conference. 

Holy cow, just looked at Sul Ross's football record... 0-11, only two close games, 3 point loss to a 2-9 team and a 6 point loss to a 3-8 team.  Outside of those two losses, average margin of victory was 58 2/3 points...  48.8 points total.  Outscored 129 to 666 :O...

What did LC win besides football? No matter what, yeah I can't see them coming back considering they did share the title in the SAC but still got crushed by HSU.

As for Sul Ross, I would assume playing at UTRGV and at SFA paid for the rest of the season so while it was a hard season, it is the life of a low tier D2 team.

Wow, LC is down to only 5 sports for me and 5 sports for women.

Quote from: Mavchamp on November 22, 2025, 04:09:59 PMChristmas wish list.....

ASC recruits two-three schools to join the conference in the off-season

Wayland Baptist
Louisiana Christian
Sul Ross State
Nelson University
Centenary

I don't think Louisiana Christian will come back.  They just won 1/3 of the conference championship over in the sooner athletic conference. 

Holy cow, just looked at Sul Ross's football record... 0-11, only two close games, 3 point loss to a 2-9 team and a 6 point loss to a 3-8 team.  Outside of those two losses, average margin of victory was 58 2/3 points...  48.8 points total.  Outscored 129 to 666 :O...

Damon Hopkins
Jordan Daniel
Marcus Taylor II
Da'Marion Morris
Dominic Johnson

Those are the ones I've seen for today.

Quote from: CruFrenzy on November 19, 2025, 07:38:31 PMOnly key portal departures so far have been on defense, all in the secondary.

JJ Davis, Battle III and D Morris.

Not great but if we can keep everyone else we have shown a good track record of whipping athletes into shape on that side of the ball. As long as we don't lose any more key guys or defensive lineman (much harder to find elite DLINE guys). Also offense is still in tact so far... need everyone back there.

Hopefully Horton comes back, he looked pretty good at times, but gonna need rb1, rb2, possibly te1, te2, lt, rg.

I think BJ Stewart might have 1 more year of eligibility though.

Also wonder what happened to Davonte Nephew, thought he had transferred to umhb this year...

Quote from: HSUCowboy2015 on November 19, 2025, 09:20:09 AMIs it just me or has UMHB just had a mass flood of "portal" entries every year right after the season ends in the Harmon era? I know HSU goes through it to, just seems like it's much more broadcasted and on a larger scale than normal?

Not trying to take shots, just curious to see what the Crusader fans opinions are on it.

HSU has had its share of kids entering the portal as well.

Quote from: Ralph Turner on November 19, 2025, 10:23:39 AMIt seems to me that the UMHB problem is that they have bunch of talented kids who believe that their talents warrant a starting or very prominent role at UMHB and that is not being fulfilled by the system in place at UMHB. Their short term options, after all they are using years of eligibility, are to assess the immediate gain in the 2026 season at UMHB or look to another school. That school could be a D2, or another D3 with a glaring need.

Back in the day, circa Meat on the Hoof, they would just quit, realizing that their talent had exhausted   the capacity to provide playing time, either at a UMHB or at D2 Elsewhere State, or a scholarship UT Longhorn team giving 70 scholarships per year to suck up the talent from the TCU's SMU's, Rice's, Tech's and A&M's of the world, and thus D1 scholarship limits. In the Meat on the Hoof scenario, they would burn themselves out on Darrell Royal's practice field and never see a collegiate down of football they would have played at another SWC school.

I believe we are seeing a variation of this with the portal.

To me it is a mix of kids who aren't getting the playing time and who would've quit in the past and those who are legitimately good enough to get higher division offers.

I know Botts landed at rice and has played 9 games this year. Only 3 tackles but still a hell of a jump.

AJ Williams III was going to be a day 1 starter at NMSU before he got hurt.

TJ Rone is playing at least some at FCS Delaware state.

Kole Meador
Jamichael Cooper
Dominic Battle III
Malachi Johnson
Deuce Solomon
TJ Duncan
Sean Masia-Bryant

also hit the portal.

Seeing that supposedly already 799 D3/D2 kids in the portal.

Tracking UMHB Kids:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a5bzMA6WXdUjZf7-gqeNxzwB16nxvGeJ9oPuaHLUFh4/edit?usp=sharing

JJ Davis into the portal.

https://x.com/ctbj7/status/1990586768580878761?t=nbkiX-nudPmVjNA-tqIKkw&s=19