The History of WACy Misteps

5 Mistakes that put the WAC where they are today.

#5  August 2010..."The Project."  After Boise State left the WAC for the MWC, the WAC instituted a plan to bring them back.  It was to invite BYU, after they went independent to re-join the conference with their other sports.  They also wanted to invite back UNLV and San Diego State.  The project failed when the MWC countered by adding Fresno State and Nevada.

20/20...Hindsight...Instead of pursuing "the Project,"  the WAC could have still added Cal Poly, UC Davis, Montana, Texas State and UTSA when the conference was still considered a strong conference.  At this point, it could have been foreseen that Fresno and Nevada were going to join Boise.  It could have also been foreseen at this time that Hawaii was also considering other options. One consequence of the failed projected is that BYU will not travel to Moscow to play in the Kibbie Dome. They could have agreed to the BYU schedule plan provided that the Cougars focus on scheduling schools that are struggling at the gate, including Idaho.

#4 June 2010...No Proactive Expansion.  Instead of giving expected invites to Cal Poly, UC Davis and Montana the WAC decided to table their expansion until the conference expansion dust settled...Not expanding proactively before Boise left was perhaps the biggest mistake in the history of the conference.  Cal Poly and UC Davis eventually chose to remain FCS schools and join their football programs to the Big Sky Conference.

20/20 Hindsight...Cal Poly, Montana and  UC Davis would have joined the WAC then when it was perceived to be a strong conference.  Now that the WAC appears to be on life support, these schools are hesitant to make the jump.

#3...2005...Louisiana Tech.  Adding the other Bulldogs added to the already bad travel problem in the WAC.  The conference would now stretch from Hawaii to Louisiana.  That adds to a lot of fuel dollars.  Many programs hemorrhage money to pay for the travel, especially Hawaii and Louisiana Tech.

20/20 Hindsight...It is likely that UTEP and Hawaii would have remained in the WAC today had Louisiana Tech had been left to join the Sun Belt Conference.

#2...1994...The WAC 16.  With UNLV likely to become the 11th school in the WAC, the conference took advantage of the disbanding Southwest conference by adding SMU, Rice and TCU.  They also added Tulsa and San Jose State.  The result was the first 16-school super conference.  But the Conference would then stretch from Honolulu to Houston.  Revenue dropped because of the travel costs.  Old rivalries were lost.  8 WAC members eventually bolted and formed the Mountain West Conference.

20/20 Hindsight...Tulsa, TCU, SMU and Rice ended up in Conference USA anyway.  It would have been best to leave them there for C-USA and not become too greedy.  At the time, the Big 10 was at 11.  The WAC could have worked with 11 as well.  Here was another opportunity to add Utah State and go to 12.  Utah State was not the football program they were in the 1970s, but in the 1990s, they were arguably as good as UNLV.

#1...1962...No Utah State, no New Mexico State.  When the WAC formed with six original members, Utah State and New Mexico State were left on the sidelines.  They would both join 43 years later.

20/20 Hindsight...Imagine how the WAC would have been different in the 1970s if the WAC had Utah State when their football program was still strong.  The 1960s and 1970s were the golden age of Aggie football.