It wasn't what Karl Benson announced today that was telling, it was what Big Sky Conference commissioner Doug Fullterton said that told the story. There were two things in his comments that were interesting.
1. Six Big Sky Conference teams have been contacted by the WAC, and all six gave the WAC the middle finger.
2. That the Big Sky Conference stands ready to "accept" Utah State and Idaho.
Now, here is what intrigues me about this. I know Utah State fans, and they hate me. They also hate being told that they will be one day relegated to the Big Sky Conference because their current conference commissioner does not have the guts to be proactive and make the right calls. Let's say you are in a chess game with a master. Benson is the guy watching all of his pawns getting picked off one-by-one. Just for teasing.
I do not have inside information about who the magic six were. My hunch is that they did not include Weber State, Northern Arizona nor Eastern Washington. Three schools who, judging by what is being said on the message boards, would accept an invitation from the WAC. The magic six are, and again, this is my guess; Montana, Montana State, Portland State, Cal Poly, UC Davis and Sacramento State.
I also do not accept the notion that Utah State, it's fans and the board of regents would accept the relegation of Utah State to the FCS. If there is one thing that Gary Anderson has accomplished in his brief tenure in Logan is improved attendance. They have emerged from attendance probation. This would all be for naught. I suspect that at this point, the third most hated person in Logan at this time is Fullerton, right behind Benson and BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe. Benson, is first because he seems to be who is getting the blame for the mess that the Aggies find themselves in at this time. Holmoe is second because he did not stand with the WAC when Nevada and Fresno State dumped the August conference and their "project" for the MWC the minute they came to call; Holmoe took his independence show to WCC instead. Fullerton is hated in Logan for even suggesting the idea that Utah State could be in the Big Sky Conference, even though sports writers have been saying this since the early 90s when most of the Big West Conference schools (Long Beach State, Pacific, Cal Sate Fullerton, etc.) were dropping football.
But, Fullerton seems to have an ace up his sleeve. The Big Sky Conference is already too big at 13, and 15 would be worse. Utah State would never agree to play Weber State and Idaho State every season and everyone else on a rotating basis. The 13 team Big Sky Conference will implode like the 16-team WAC did. Why? You have extensive travel in a conference that stretches from Central California to Eastern North Dakota (The old WAC stretched from Honolulu to Houston); they took advantage of the failure of another football conference (the Great West/old Southwest Conference) to add new members too quickly, and they killed traditional rivalries to get a schedule together. Yes, this should sound familiar to those who know WAC history. The only salvation for the 13-member Big Sky Conference is that all of the schools are public, where the old WAC was a mixture between Private and Public.
Fullerton knows this, but agreed to it anyway. So did enough Presidents of Big Sky Schools. Fullerton also knows that the NCAA wants the WAC to succeed, even if others out west want it to die. There are reasons why there needs to be a third FBS conference in the West. There needs to be enough FBS members to fill all of the bowl commitments. A loss of a conference is not what the NCAA needs right now on top of all of the problems with the Fiesta Bowl, the push for a playoff and the scandals rocking top-tier programs like USC and Ohio State.
But if the WAC can not be saved, how about a new conference? Moving part of the Big Sky Conference to the FBS, and inviting some of the WAC remnants to join. That's a plan that will make Fullerton look like a genius. Letting the WAC become a basketball league, and letting this new conference arise from the ashes. The Big Sky Conference could split, leaving seven of it's 13 members at the FCS level, and bringing the other six, with Utah State, Idaho and San Jose State to the new FBS level Big Sky Conference. This is what I read behind the WAC expansion headlines today. What do you think?
New Big Sky Conference:
Idaho
Utah State
San Jose State
Cal Poly
UC Davis
Montana
Montana State
Portland State
Sacramento State
Left to form a new FCS Conference (The left-behind conference):
Eastern Washington
Idaho State
Weber State
North Dakota
Northern Arizona
Northern Colorado
Southern Utah
11 comments:
As a University of Idaho faculty member, I very much like your thinking ... though I simply do not see the "new Big Sky" as you envision it coming to pass.
I would be happy to "dump" Louisiana Tech, but less happy to dump New Mexico State (apart from travel issues).
Eastern Washington? Hmmm ... I do like their recent success and I recall that they had an NCAA tournament birth about eight to ten years ago.
As for the current WAC ... let it "implode" for all I care. I was with the "old WAC" as a Colorado State faculty ... with the "old WAC" sans UTEP plus UNLV in 1998 effectively became the Mountain West Conference.
What about Eastern Washington? They have an excellent football program and actually won the FCS National Championship game this year. The only draw-backs to them are they compete in a state that includes two Pac-10 teams so they often don't get the media/fan support they deserve. Personally, I would like to see them taken to any future FBS version of the Big Sky because they are far more competitive than many of the schools on that list. Also, their NCAA tournament birth was in 2004 if I recall correctly, so not too long ago and they have just hired a new men's basketball coach which is going to get that program back on track.
I also like the idea of merging the conferences and having one group play at the FBS level, and one at the FCS, although I'd like to see a 16 member conference for all sports, and then an 8/8 split for football between FBS and FCS. That would be a good looking product.
Also, drop North Dakota and find a more regional school. This new conference would need to have a west coast flavor and UND does not fit within that footprint.
Your Big Sky split has several big problems. 1) The Mountain West will expand to 12 within the next two years and one of those schools added will be Utah State. 2) Even if Idaho, UTU, and SJS leave that still leaves three fb teams: UTSA, Texas State, and LA Tech. In order for the WAC to become a basketball conference they will have to leave as well. Where will they go?
And New Mexico State in football.
@Beloved. The Mountain West will only expand to 12 if it will help them get and possibly keep BCS automatic qualifying status. Utah State and San Jose State are not the programs that will accomplish that goal.
@ ben h. the BCS contract ends at the end of the 2013-14 season. between various lawsuits, the feds, and the demand for a playoff in college football there will be no BCS for the 2014-15 season. the Mountain West will no longer need to worry about impressing the BCS and can again focusing on more than just football. MWC wants Utah State. they already extended an offer but were turned down when Utah State thought the WAC could still be saved. now Utah State wants in. although i do agree that the MWC does not and never will want San Jose, they do want Utah State which has the winningest basketball program in college sports history.
still doesn't answer my question of how having four football schools (NM State, UTSA, Texas State and LA Tech) makes the WAC a basketball conference?
@Beloved...you are missing the point. It is not Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullterton's job to worry about the other schools.
@ Ben H. Fullerton did not put forth the idea of the WAC being a basketball league. It was the idea of this blogger. These are the blogger's ideas. Not Fullerton's. At least that's how I read it. How does this blogger explain that there would still be four football schools in the WAC under his plan?
@Beloved...Fullerton said that six Big Sky teams have turn down the WAC and that he is ready to accept Utah State and Idaho into the conference. That is it. The rest of these ideas are the imagination of this blogger. Keep in mind that this is only a blog and nothing more. If this were real ideas floated by Fullerton, there would be footnotes and references.
I actually could see Eastern going to the WAC. I live in the state of washington so im in the know on whats happening. University of Washington has been accepting less people which has increase EWU's student population but UW announced that they are talking now less people from the state and more out of the state which will drastically increase their student pop. in the next few years. But EWU has just won a national championship so they had gain money for the big sky conference and the school. more boosters are come out of the closet and you cant forget Washington produces some of the best recruits in the nation and if EWU was put on the national stage they couls possible steal recruits from idaho, Washington State University, Montana and possibly UW. EWU has been recieving great recruits already in the past years and in 5 years from now in sports like basketball and football be compete at a national level. Eastern is becoming more popular in a state that has 2 top college football programs and 3 top basketball programs (UW, WSU, and Gonzaga) which EWU has made sure to match up with these teams( especially gonzaga and UW in basketball) every year. I can never see the big Sky dropping Eastern but looking at them to be a charter school in the future or possibly
bring life back to the WAC.
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