# 18 Nick Browne

Number 18 brings us to our second and final kicker. Nick Browne, a two sport star, and the 2003 Playboy All-American was one of the most prolific kickers in TCU History. Browne holds the school record field goals in a career (65) and field goals in a game (5 on two occasions) . The two-time Academic All-American led C-USA in scoring his senior year and was a first team All-American according to the Football Writers Association.

New York Times Article on Browne

Up next: A defensive end whose name has already appeared on the countdown.

39 days...

39 long days until the Frogs kick off their 2008 season. That's nearly a thousand hours that you'll have to wait until GP & the boys start their march towards a 2nd MWC crown. What could POSSIBLY make the wait seem shorter and fill in part of the void in your life until Robert Henson begins devouring souls once more?



That's right. Spencer and the rest of the Hills gang are coming back for Season 4, which will be 19 episodes long and starts on August 18th.

Ortiz named to the MWC all-decade team

July 22, 2008

LAS VEGAS - The Mountain West Conference announces its 10th Anniversary Football Team, as selected by a combined panel of media, institutional and conference personnel and on-line fan poll. In order to be eligible for consideration, candidates must have been a first team all-Mountain West selection at least once in their careers.

Anniversary teams will be chosen for each of the 19 conference-sponsored sports during the 2008-09 seasons in celebration of the Mountain West's 10th anniversary.

The MountainWest Sports Network - Mtn. will broadcast a series of special presentations highlighting the 10th anniversary of the Mountain West Conference. The football team announcement debuts at 11 a.m. PT today, with an encore presentation at 7 p.m. PT. The announcement of the volleyball, soccer, and men's and women's cross country 10th anniversary teams will follow at 7:30 p.m. PT. Interviews with coaches and several of the respective honorees will be part of each 30-minute show.

Full team here

Thompson's State of the Conference

Commissioner Thompson talks MWC football

July 22, 2008 12:45 PM

Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

LAS VEGAS -- Day 2 of the Mountain West media days kicked off with the state of conference address by commissioner Craig Thompson. It's the 10-year anniversary of the conference and there were several milestones for Thompson to highlight, including the championing of the conference's own television network, The MountainWest Sports Network.

The Mountain is similar to the Big 10 Network in that it focuses on broadcasting all Mountain West sports, including a hefty serving of football in the fall. For a lot of Mountain West teams, it's the best opportunity to gain national television exposure. The Mountain is currently carried on most cable networks and DirectTV. The Mountain West is still in negotiation with Dish Network.

Come Aug. 30, The Mountain will have been on the air for 738 days. It is shown in 147 cable regions and Thompson said on Aug. 27, DirectTV would give the station national distribution.

The Mountain West Conference also partners with CBS College Sports and Versus, giving the conference nearly 7,000 hours of programming.

"There's only two conferences that have their own network and we were the first and will always be the first," Thompson said. "It was hard and it was risky, but it's what we needed to do."

Each of the Mountain West's nine member institutions will have a minimum of 10 football games televised and some will have all 12. Thompson estimates $12 million in revenue from the television package this year.

"History will tell, but this was a tremendous move for the Mountain West Conference," Thompson said. "The future is extremely bright. There's a lot of optimism for the next 10 years and beyond."

Some other notes from Thompson's address:

• The Mountain West is currently in talks with the Humanitarian Bowl to add a fifth bowl to the conference's postseason slate.
• Thompson, who has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Pac-10 commissioner position, has not been contacted by the Pac-10, but said he'd listen if the Pac-10 called.
• The conference is in talks with CBS to get some nationally televised football games. The hitch is that games would have to be played at 10 a.m. MST, which would cut into the children's programming CBS is required by law to provide. CBS is also under contract to carry SEC games, so Mountain West games could not infringe upon that time.
• Thompson said the conference's nine member institutions split $20 million in revenue last year as opposed to the $9 million the teams split when the league formed 10 years ago.

New Mexico coach not happy to open against TCU

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/774326.html

By MERCEDES MAYER
mmayer@star-telegram.com

HENDERSON, Nev. — College football season is more than a month away, but the way coaches talk (especially at the Mountain West Conference’s annual media days), it might as well start next week.

Coaches and players from all nine conference schools talked about potential and expectations, projections and progress at the Green Valley Ranch resort outside Las Vegas on Monday. The event ends today, then it’s back to preparing for the season openers; all nine teams play Aug. 30 or 31.

TCU tidbits
TCU and New Mexico meet Aug. 30 in their season opener, and Lobos coach Rocky Long is among those who don’t want to open with a conference game.

"Everybody wants to play a couple of games to see what kind of team you have," he said. "You can make adjustments early in the season that will make your team better as you go into conference play, but they’re not giving us that ability this year. [The Frogs] don’t want to play around Thanksgiving. We don’t mind. We didn’t get our choice; they got their choice."

TCU’s 2008 media guide made its "debut" Monday, which also marked the unveiling of sorts of the proposed Amon G. Carter Stadium renovations. Page 1 and pages 34-35 have drawings of the vision for the 78-year-old stadium, which the athletics department hopes becomes the "Camden Yards" of college football stadiums.

"Doing what we’ve been doing to this point has made it to where we have 14 commitments [from recruits] already," TCU coach Gary Patterson said, referring to facilities built in the past year. "What would the new renovations do to bring national recruiting to Fort Worth?"

Defensive end Allen Christopher will not return to the team.

Speaking of TCU
"Very impressive team. They’re extremely talented. I think they’re a Top 25 team. When you mix in their talent level, they are well coached, and then having a returning quarterback, those are all good ingredients."
— Troy Calhoun, Air Force coach

"Every single year, they’re maybe the most athletic team in the league. You can always count on them being a top-notch team in this conference. Speed, the ability to change direction, run, jump, react — just sheer athleticism, which is what the game is becoming more so each year."
— Kyle Whittingham, Utah coach

They said it
"Just a couple, is that all we have to replace? Is that it?"
— Troy Calhoun, who Falcons lost 15 starters, including quarterback Shaun Carney and receiver Chad Hall, from last year’s 9-4 squad

"I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad sign. With what has happened in the league over the last few years, I think we’re as good as a BCS-team league. We don’t get the same recognition, but we can play with anybody."
— Rocky Long, New Mexico coach and the only coach who has been in the Mountain West all 10 years of its existence

"They’re all three good players, but, with that said, nobody really took off and ran with it in spring ball."
— Joe Glenn, Wyoming coach, who has three quarterbacks (Karsten Sween, Dax Crum and Ian Hetrick) vying for the starting job.