The potential trickle-down effect with the Mountain West/WAC

[weberwildcat]

it would be a better idea to let the wac dissolve than to have fullerton open up the big sky flood gates.

[Fresno St. Alum]

fring, I only had the 2 Texas schools as ones ready to go now. Whether you like it or not Portland St. is on the list and according to Benson has listened to inquiries(it means almost nothing) but those are the names that the commish has been looking at etc... even before this.

Charlotte, If BYU stays I think Houston will be #12 in the MWC. Will CUSA wait for you? I don't know. They may feel the need to refill Texas with UNT or take the best fb/metro city option MTSU or FAU. They may throw La Tech a bone since the east and west would like them being dead cent of the conf.

I don't see any way that La Tech can afford to stay in the WAC. Sun Belt close and they'll just have to suck it up and play ULM, ULL. If the WAC can get to 9. I see them letting La Tech out of the $5 mill buyout.

[Sly Fox]

See that's the thing with La Tech. The WAC can't let them out because they need the six core members for auto bid purposes in all sports. If La Tech bolts it could be the death knell for the league. Benson will do whatever it takes to keep La Tech in the fold. But if the C-USA offers La Tech a spot, I don't think they could pass it up.

You have to think that UTEP would seriously consider rejoining a reworked WAC. Travel costs are brutal either way but if they had enough Texan partners it could be palatable. It is the non-revenue sports that have killed UTEP's budget because they fly everywhere in the C-USA outside of SMU (which is a brutal road trip in itself).

Frankly this might be the impetus for a much discussed new Texas-based league to launch. The WAC would die and Hawaii would probably have to go independent (and C-USA would have to reinvent itself as an Eastern conference). But a league with SMU, Rice, UTEP, North Texas, Texas State, UTSA and possibly Tulsa and/or La Tech starts making sense.

[49RFootballNow]

Charlotte, If BYU stays I think Houston will be #12 in the MWC. Will CUSA wait for you? I don't know. They may feel the need to refill Texas with UNT or take the best fb/metro city option MTSU or FAU. They may throw La Tech a bone since the east and west would like them being dead cent of the conf.

If CUSA stays intact I think they take La Tech and chug onward. I think that if the eastern schools use this as a reason to split the conference we have an excellent shot at getting in.

[CatMom]

SMDR - Tyler Mayforth blog @ Cat's Cradle

Benson opened the call by stating, he is "...immediately going to look at both current FBS and Football Championship Subdivision schools who have expressed interest..." in joining the WAC.

While no one directly asked Benson what schools he is targeting, Benson eventually mentioned Texas State as a school "...that has shown tremendous potential and that has a plan in place."

[S F State Gaters]

Benson has watched the WAC go from 16 teams to 6, presided over the conference losing the following teams: BYU, Utah, Colorado State, Wyoming, New Mexico UNLV, San Diego State, TCU, Rice, UTEP, Tulsa, Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada... all while adding Utah State, New Mexico State, and Idaho.

Pity Hawai'i and SJSU, they both deserved much, much better.

[kirkblitz]

time for ccu and app to move up

[Keeper]

BYU stuck in the same stinkin bowl 5 years in a row !!??
Do ya think that is something pertinent in their decision to go it alone? money money money

I predict if the WAC cannot refresh with metro markets on the West Coast, it will fold.
Does Montana bring a revenue-enhancement to the WAC? I don't think so.

Can CP, UCD, CSSU or Portland St pony up the bucks to compete in FBS? Isnt that the big if ??

[Saint3333]

time for ccu and app to move up

I assume you mean ASU to the FBS and CCU to the SoCon?

[AppMan]

Charlotte, If BYU stays I think Houston will be #12 in the MWC. Will CUSA wait for you? I don't know. They may feel the need to refill Texas with UNT or take the best fb/metro city option MTSU or FAU. They may throw La Tech a bone since the east and west would like them being dead cent of the conf.

If CUSA stays intact I think they take La Tech and chug onward. I think that if the eastern schools use this as a reason to split the conference we have an excellent shot at getting in.

Are you saying uncc has a better shot than ASU?

[AppMan]

time for ccu and app to move up

I assume you mean ASU to the FBS and CCU to the SoCon?

That would be my assumption as well.

[Green Cookie Monster]

Pity Hawai'i and SJSU, they both deserved much, much better.

No they don't, in the case of SJSU they are getting exactly what they deserve. They havent done squat to improve their program over the last decade except to live in fairy land and the good ol Walsh days memory. In this case, SJSU is getting exactly what they deserve.

As far as the city/state of Hawaii, they are too isolated to amount to anything.

[nwFL Griz]

BYU stuck in the same stinkin bowl 5 years in a row !!??
Do ya think that is something pertinent in their decision to go it alone? money money money

I predict if the WAC cannot refresh with metro markets on the West Coast, it will fold.
Does Montana bring a revenue-enhancement to the WAC? I don't think so.

First, they were stuck in the same stinkin bowl because they couldn't finish better than at least one team in the MWC for five straight years. Their bowl position is at least half their fault, pass on the Vegas and accept an invite to the next MWC affiliated bowl....without looking it up, I'd be willing to bet the payout on the next bowl down the pecking order was not worth passing on Vegas.

Second...revenue-enhancement to the WAC? That's hilarious, seeing as how whatever Montana would bring to the WAC is far better than zero...which is where the WAC could end up if they don't do something. It's full-on survival mode time, what would normally be a less than desirable option can suddenly become must-have in this situation.

[kemajic]

Fresno, I don't know where you get the idea that PSU is considering the WAC. No doubt our AD dreams of the valhalla of Bowl football. No doubt we could play WAC even in basketball, volleyball, soccer, even football in a year or two. But like Montana we'd have to add sports and add a helluva lot more money into athletics, money we haven't got. Sac State's in the same bind. For all the loose talk here on the board, it always comes down to money.

The difference is Montana averages 25,000 per game and is nationally competive in FCS every year. SacSt and PSU can't average 10,000 or play .500 ball in FCS.

[SuperHornet]

Can CP, UCD, CSSU or Portland St pony up the bucks to compete in FBS? Isnt that the big if ??

Who the cr@p is CSSU? If you REALLY wanna use the academic initials for Sac State, you're looking for CSUS.

[Green Cookie Monster]

Fresno, I don't know where you get the idea that PSU is considering the WAC. No doubt our AD dreams of the valhalla of Bowl football. No doubt we could play WAC even in basketball, volleyball, soccer, even football in a year or two. But like Montana we'd have to add sports and add a helluva lot more money into athletics, money we haven't got. Sac State's in the same bind. For all the loose talk here on the board, it always comes down to money.

The difference is Montana averages 25,000 per game and is nationally competive in FCS every year. SacSt and PSU can't average 10,000 or play .500 ball in FCS.

The difference is that Montana doesnt offer enough sports and has a budget less than Sac State, even though Montana averages 25,000 a game in FCS.

[SDHornet]

Benson has watched the WAC go from 16 teams to 6, presided over the conference losing the following teams: BYU, Utah, Colorado State, Wyoming, New Mexico UNLV, San Diego State, TCU, Rice, UTEP, Tulsa, Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada... all while adding Utah State, New Mexico State, and Idaho.

Pity Hawai'i and SJSU, they both deserved much, much better.

Yeah, another question we should be asking is do we want our school in a conference with that guy calling the shots. His track record is just down right fucking pathetic.

[CPAlum]

Benson has watched the WAC go from 16 teams to 6, presided over the conference losing the following teams: BYU, Utah, Colorado State, Wyoming, New Mexico UNLV, San Diego State, TCU, Rice, UTEP, Tulsa, Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada... all while adding Utah State, New Mexico State, and Idaho.

Pity Hawai'i and SJSU, they both deserved much, much better.

Yeah, another question we should be asking is do we want our school in a conference with that guy calling the shots. His track record is just down right **** pathetic.

I have been thinking exactly the same thing....the WAC just doesnt look that attractive to me anymore. It is hard to see leaving the Big West...for Idaho, SJSU, NMSU etc.....I would be completetly shocked to see any team leave the Sky for that mess...I am 100% sure that the Big Sky is better than the WAC right about now...and I mean football too.

[SDHornet]

Yeah. It makes more sense for Idaho and SJSU to just drop down. If they do, I would love for an all-sports FCS conference to form:

Sac State
San Jose State
Cal Poly
"the farm extension"
Portland State
NAU
SUU

The Big Sky can take Idaho back or some of the Dakota schools to fill the NAU and PSU voids.

[CPAlum]

I wonder if the WAC wont make a play to take back some past WAC members? San Diego State sure looks like a better fit in the WAC at this point. Add UCD, Sac St. and Cal Poly and you have a pretty good regional acnchor not to mention reduced travel....that to a conference that looks more like national table scraps now

With some assumed defections (Utah St and La Tech) it might look like this...

New WAC

Idaho
San Diego St.
Sac State
Cal Poly
UC Davis
New Mexico State
San Jose
Hawaii

[SDHornet]

I wonder if the WAC wont make a play to take back some past WAC members? San Diego State sure looks like a better fit in the WAC at this point. Add UCD, Sac St. and Cal Poly and you have a pretty good regional acnchor not to mention reduced travel....that to a conference that looks more like national table scraps now

With some assumed defections (Utah St and La Tech) it might look like this...

New WAC

Idaho
San Diego St.
Sac State
Cal Poly
UC Davis
New Mexico State
San Jose
Hawaii

No way any current MWC members go to the WAC unless they are somehow forced out.

[Mike Johnson]

For the record, last year's final Sagarin ratings for the WAC and the Big Sky last year, plus some of the possible additions to the WAC:

(first number is the final rank; second number is the power rating)

Leaving in 2011:
5 Boise State WAC 89.35

Leaving in 2012:
59 Fresno State WAC 71.39
70 Nevada WAC 69.43

Remaining:

85 Idaho WAC 66.19
89 Louisiana Tech WAC 66.12
100 Utah State WAC 63.33
105 Hawaii WAC 62.47
138 San Jose State WAC 54.06
153 New Mexico State WAC 51.95

57 Montana Big Sky 71.73
110 Eastern Washington Big Sky 61.32
111 Weber State Big Sky 60.89
120 Montana State Big Sky 57.88
124 Northern Arizona Big Sky 57.34
159 Sacramento State Big Sky 51.23
177 Northern Colorado Big Sky 45.94
191 Portland State Big Sky 43.16
198 Idaho State Big Sky 41.55

May join the WAC:
154 Texas State Southland 51.77
135 UC Davis Great West 54.24
158 Cal Poly-SLO Great West 51.36

[Mike Johnson]

That would put them somewhere between the OVC and MEAC in terms of strength of conference.

For the record, last year's final Sagarin ratings for these two conferences are:

117 Jacksonville State Ohio Valley 58.31
163 Eastern Illinois Ohio Valley 50.55
181 Eastern Kentucky Ohio Valley 44.8
183 Tennessee Tech Ohio Valley 44.45
204 Tennessee-Martin Ohio Valley 40.23
215 Austin Peay Ohio Valley 38.18
219 Tennessee State Ohio Valley 36.58
225 SE Missouri State Ohio Valley 35.19
228 Murray State Ohio Valley 33.93

115 SC State MEAC 59.03
167 Florida A&M MEAC 48.89
174 Norfolk State MEAC 46.74
205 Morgan State MEAC 40.21
206 Delaware State MEAC 39.65
211 Hampton MEAC 38.92
220 Bethune-Cookman MEAC 36.2
223 NC A&T MEAC 35.96
237 Winston-Salem State MEAC 28.51
238 Howard MEAC 27.86

The top team in each of these conference would likely finish in the bottom half of the six remaining WAC teams. All the rest in these conferences would be weaker than the weakest of the six. The six remaining WAC teams average a power rating in the low 60s, while these two conferences average in the low 40s.

[Mike Johnson]

The difference is that Montana doesnt offer enough sports and has a budget less than Sac State, even though Montana averages 25,000 a game in FCS.

Last year's reported revenues were CSU-Sacramento $14.0 vs UM $13.8. This is hardly much of a difference to overcome the other factors.

With 8 women's and 6 men's sports, UM would need to add 2 sports, including at least one male. All of UM's 14 sports could find a home in WAC. The WAC also sponsors Baseball, Softball, Men's Golf, Women's Gymnastics, and Women's Swimming & Diving (or UM could go another direction for additional sports).

Men's golf shouldn't be all that expensive to add (UM already has a women's golf team).
Baseball could be played in the Pioneer league stadium in Missoula.

I think it would be easier for UM to add Men's Golf and either Women's Gymnastics or Swimming & Diving, than it will be for CSU-Sacramento to average 15,000 in attendance at home games.

[CatMom]

The sports would have to be women's because the football team would get 22 more scholarships if they moved to FBS. They would have to stay Title IX compliant.