You know what my gosh-honest belief is....the school just doesn't want it. I mean damn it took more than 40 years to get something other than Texas Hall for a suitable basketball/volleyball arena/multipurpose arena.

Had it not been for big donations by Allan Saxe, just imagine how crabby Allan Saxe Field and Clay Gould (Allan Saxe) Ballpark just might be.

Really, the school is only looking for itself to be recognized as a research/academic institution. WHICH IT WILL NEVER BE. There's SMU and TCU on either end of the Metroplex and UTA will have a hard time even having the name recognition as those two. So because of that thought, the administrations have put athletics, as a whole, into an afterthought until the men's and women's basketball teams success into the NCAA tourney.

It's really not about the money as you said Duck, but the university makes it that way - even though new buildings, logos and all sorts of minor upgrades occur every semester.

I honestly don't think much about SMU or TCU. I'm not saying we don't ever "compete" with them because, sure, in certain ways we do. But, they are not peer institutions with us. It is like an apples to oranges comparison. From my perspective, whatever notoriety they enjoy doesn't have any affect on us.

Also, we already are a research/academic institution. Our stature is rising, too. No question. (I'll save the elaborations and evidences for some other time.)

I kind of chuckle, too, when I do think if a comparison with TCU. I'll give TCU credit for being a good undergraduate institution with a pretty campus and over-achievement in f-ball. I'm sure young adults get a good education there, just like they do at UTA. However, we simply blow them away at the graduate level and from a research perspective. It's not even close. For instance, while UTA had $66 million in research expenditures last year, TCU had about $5 million. No, that is not a typo. $5 million!!! Also, we blow them away in Ph.D. and masters production. They have no aspirations in this area, either. This is why I say, besides the public/private difference, we are not in any way peers..and why we are, frankly, the more important institution to Texas and the nation. Informed people, of which there are many, understand the differences, too.

I like your response Maverick!

Yeah, I was strictly talking about reputations. Not so much the other mumbo jumbo.

I guess I've never worried too much about what the average moron on the street thinks (but, if we could win him over, I'm fine with that.)

Although I appreciate the qualities of other institutions, including the local privates, I have acquired a genuine UTA superiority complex on certain matters over the years. I have found it serves me well, too. And, in a tiny way as I make my way through the world, I think it serves UTA well, too. But, yeah, I was talking about our reputation, too, not just facts or the other mumbo jumbo.

But that is where the money is ...

you win over the hearts and minds of the common man, and you have true success ... UT does not have it's obscene wealth from alumni and students, it is from fans ...