NEW ORLEANS — The Sun Belt Conference’s coaches spent most of their time at the league’s annual media days talking about the race for the league title.

DRC file photo

North Texas is looking to replace Fouts Field, seen in this 2004 file photo, which has been the school’s football stadium since 1952.

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But that isn’t the only race going on in the conference. There is also a rapidly expanding arms race when it comes to stadiums, locker rooms, weight rooms and just about any other kind of facility associated with athletics.

UNT head coach Todd Dodge expects the Mean Green to keep up by building a new football stadium to replace an antiquated Fouts Field.

“Coach [Rick] Villarreal told me that we would have a stadium by 2010 when he hired me,” Dodge said. “They have a lot of jobs to do and the information does not always come out as quickly as they would like, but I have confidence in coach Villarreal and his team that it is going to get done.”

Fouts Field was built in 1952 and lacks the amenities several of the stadiums the Mean Green’s rivals in the Sun Belt and across Texas enjoy. Nearly every Sun Belt team is in the process of improving its facilities or building a new stadium.

Florida International will play its first season in revamped FIU Stadium this fall, Western Kentucky has almost finished an expansion of Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium, and Louisiana-Lafayette opened a new indoor practice facility prior to last season.

UNT, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe and ULL have all installed new playing surfaces since 2005.

Florida Atlantic is also in the process of raising money to build a new stadium.

The rate at which Sun Belt schools are improving their facilities makes it all the more important for UNT to move forward.

“There is no doubt that you want to keep up,” Dodge said. “There is a facilities race. It has been going on for a while. I am glad I am at a place that wants to get into it.”

UNT has been playing catch-up for the last several years. The school opened the Mean Green Athletic Center and replaced and replaced the turf at Fouts Field in the last five years.

Dodge and the rest of the coaches in the Sun Belt say each of those steps is critical for keeping their programs competitive inside and outside the league.

“Having a new stadium will help us tremendously,” FIU head coach Mario Cristobal said. “It shows that we are committed to player development. A lot of schools talk about improving their facilities and their programs, but you can see that FIU is doing it when you drive by our campus and see steel and concrete going up.”

The improvements WKU is making to its stadium are a big part of the school’s plans to be competitive as it makes the transition from playing in the NCAA’s Championship Subdivision to being a member of the Bowl Subdivision and the Sun Belt. WKU will be a full member of the Sun Belt next season.

“Looking at the fact [that] we had a one-sided stadium, it’s huge what we are doing in terms of improving our facilities,” WKU head coach David Elson said. “We are all recruiting against each other. I have always said that it is important for our school to show that we are committed to providing our student-athletes the best opportunity to grow as people and players.”

Showing that commitment can play a key role in recruiting, the lifeblood of any program.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that facilities are a factor when kids decide where to go to school,” Sun Belt Conference commissioner Wright Waters said. “You get better kids by having better facilities, you have better games and have better teams. The snowball continues to build.”

FAU is trying to continue that effect for its program following a season that included tying for the Sun Belt title and beating Memphis in the New Orleans Bowl by building a new stadium.

“We will determine our financing plan in the next several weeks,” FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger said. “If for some reason that does not happen, we will have to push our opening back from 2010 to 2011.”

Dodge named the rapid upgrade to high school stadiums in Texas as another reason why it is critical to move forward with a new stadium at UNT. The players UNT is recruiting often spent their high school careers playing for teams with recently built or upgraded stadiums in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Dodge is confident that UNT will have a stadium that will be an asset to his program when it pursues those players in the next few months.

“Being from Texas, there are great high school stadiums all over,” Dodge said. “The kids we are recruiting played in those stadiums. It will help to have a nice stadium to show them.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .