Could North Texas be losing Athletic Director Rick Villarreal? Recently, Southern Miss Athletic Director Richard Giannini tendered his intent to resign as the AD effective in January. While the search for a replacement is just beginning, it is no secret many Golden Eagle fans want Villarreal to return to take over the Southern Miss program.  Many of them wanted him over Giannini.

Eagletalk.net talked to several members of the Southern Miss Eagle Club and members of the Circle of Champions who intend to have Southern Miss pursue Villarreal.

According to the sources, who did not want their names mentioned, they believe Villarreal will move the Golden Eagle Athletic Department forward. They believe if Villarreal was the AD, Southern Miss would be in an AQ Conference and would have had better facilities.  

They feel he was responsible for helping to get the Southern Miss Circle of Champions going. These donors pledge over $100,000 each. The hardest part of anything is to get something going, when Villarreal left there were about 40 Circle of Champion members, now there are over 140.

Villarreal was involved in help laying plans for the newly expanded football stadium and the renovation of Reed Green Coliseum.  He was responsible for a new baseball clubhouse, which has been expanded, new softball complex, which has been improved and new athletic center.

Southern Miss Fans know he is a successful businessman, athletic director, coach, fund-raiser and watched him breathe life into the North Texas Athletic Department in his eight years at the helm of the program.  They see the direction of North Texas and want that same direction for Southern Miss.

They saw him help North Texas build the $8 million state-of-the-art athletic facility, build a $3 million tennis facility. He renovated as well as added new construction of a basketball practice facility, soccer, softball, golf and volleyball facilities.

The new academic center for student-athletes resulted in graduation rates for student-athletes to improve from around 30% to over 60%.  

North Texas has been #1 in gender equality in sports in the NCAA for several years.

 Southern Miss, like North Texas, is a former teachers college with a high average of female students and a lot of commuters. They believe North Texas has been able to capture and build upon some of those deficiencies. They point to North Texas setting a new all-time home football attendance record in the first year of Apogee stadium.    

It was pointed out they saw North Texas facilities grow faster in eight years under his leadership than Southern Miss has in the 12 years of their retiring AD.  Some felt, he completed more in eight years then Southern Miss did in the last 20 years.

OK, let’s give credit where credit is due. North Texas President Lane Rawlins understood how important athletics is to being the “front porch” to the university while the former Southern Miss president looked to sports as being a hindrance to education.

While North Texas built a new 30,850 stadium for $78 million which included 21 luxury suites and 754 club level suites. Southern Miss, in 2008, after Villarreal’s departure, was only able to raise $31.9 million to expand their stadium to 36,000. They added 3,700 seats with 34 suites and 320 club level seats.  Those big Southern Miss donors who have the 34 suites are in the south endzone. They are much like Southern Methodist’s suites in the North endzones.  North Texas big donors have their suites along the sidelines they get a much better value for their dollar.

According to the internet, Villarreal is getting $228,800 a year in salary with a $61,500 in possible bonuses. The present Southern Miss AD is getting $298,000 with a possible $49,666 in bonuses. Moving to Southern Miss would be a big pay raise. 

The question is: Would Villarreal move back to his alma mater if they officially came a calling? He bleeds black and gold and while that is something everyone uses for their ties to a university, there is something different to being a Golden Eagle fan. It is hard to explain to some people sort of like “once a Marine always a Marine,” something people can’t explain unless they are part of it.  

Southern Miss and North Texas have a lot of parallels and there is a lot of bonding among fans from each school and they both understand being made fun of from other schools in the state. Both are trying to break through in college athletics and as Southern Miss Fans say “to the top” in trying to break through the SEC dominated state.  

Here is the thing, Villarreal has moved North Texas foreword faster “to the top” in eight years than Southern Miss in the last 12 years. Southern Miss, under the former AD was considered a top candidate for several conferences, now they are just a member of a Conference-USA trying to hold things together.

Under Villarreal, North Texas has been considered by several conferences and is the gem of the Sun Belt. In the scheme of the college world, most North Texas fans do not really understand the importance North Texas holds. The ace in the hole is football attendance, when Villarreal gets that rolling, North Texas will be a powerful addition to any conference.  

With North Texas on the verge of joining Conference-USA and still getting looks from other conferences, North Texas is a plum waiting to be picked. North Texas already a major power on the college scene in men’s basketball and rising fast in women’s basketball, softball as well as other sports and with football looking to turn things around it would be a shame for North Texas to lose him.

Would Villarreal make the move?  To Villarreal giving up North Texas would be like a father or mother giving up a new born baby, it would be hard for him to do plus he bleeds green a lot more than black and gold.

The question is, what would North Texas do to keep him?