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LOGAN, Utah - An open letter from Utah State Athletics Director Scott Barnes,
I know you have been closely following Wednesday's news that Nevada and Fresno State announced they are leaving the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) to join the Mountain West Conference (MWC). In a 12-hour period we have gone from looking forward to participating in an expanded WAC with a bright and prosperous future to one of some uncertainty.
Recently, Utah State, under President Stan Albrecht's strong leadership, played a major role in exploring the possibility of bringing BYU into the WAC. As of Tuesday, BYU was on the verge of joining the WAC in all sports but football.
As part of the WAC's conversations with BYU, the current eight conference members (excluding departing Boise State) agreed to remain together as a conference for at least five years. This stability was important to BYU, to other current members, and would have been critical as other expansion options were explored. WAC members signed a letter of commitment that included a $5M membership buyout. When the possibility of BYU leaving became known, MWC leadership contacted three WAC members inquiring about their interest in joining the MWC. Utah State was the first of these three contacts.
At the point in time when Utah State was contacted by the MWC we had a binding agreement with the WAC and were well positioned with nine members, which included BYU. We were simply committed to uphold our agreement with fellow WAC members. We respectfully declined MWC interest and believed all WAC members would remain committed to our agreement.
As the WAC currently stands we are a nine-member conference for the 2010-11 academic year and an eight-member conference in 2011-12 (after Boise State departs). The NCAA minimum to be recognized as an affiliated conference is six members, which the WAC still meets after Nevada and Fresno State leave.
This is a dynamic phase in college athletic conference alignments. We anticipate additional changes in conference membership on a national scale for the foreseeable future.
That said, Utah State Intercollegiate Athletics continues to be in growth mode. We have excellent coaches in place who have recruited and mentored nearly 350 student-athletes who are excelling in competition and in the classroom.
We have created significantly more resources in operating budgets, enhanced facilities, and have developed a strategic plan to guide us in our continued growth and success.
I do not take lightly the negative effect that recent changes in the composition of the WAC will have on us, but these are not insurmountable. We have persevered through many changes in the athletic landscape and are prepared and better equipped to do so again. We will continue to focus on building programs that win championships, graduate talented student-athletes, as well as excite and unify Aggies everywhere.
Thats quite true, and quite sad as well, because Nevada have done some quite remarkable things over the last few years in Football that alot of people would have not relised.
Hey dude, I hear ya. My team UVA is a charter ACC member and we have trouble getting good coverage in some of the state newspapers!
The fact is that in a time of consolidating audiences and tight budgets networks are only gonna focus on tried and trues. As Dennis Dodd on CBS Sports said, those are teh ones that the people watch the most.
If my prefered scenario happens and Houston gets into a MWC with BYU and that gets auto bid, then honestly the entire marketplace for big time ball will be maxed out.
Interesting question I don't think has been asked here:
Exactly which school near the shores of Lake Tahoe is being asked to join the MWC?
In the history of the University of Nevada, Reno came first and Las Vegas, for all its size and prominence edge over the former, is the new kid on the block.
But in the MWC, it is UNLV that has seniority and might have an expectation of calling the shots over the new guys.
So unlike any other such situation in America, only in Nevada does the original school have to question its right to be strictly its state's name. Cal, or California if you prefer although I don't know anyone who uses the long form, gets to be Cal, even though the University of California is ten institutions strong and one of them, UCLA, is very much on par with Cal. UW-Madison is Wisconsin, UT-Austin is Texas, UNCCH is alphabet mish mosh I think I just made up and is Carolina...or North Carolina if you prefer. CU Boulder is Colorado. UNL is Nebraska. And neither the University of Arkansas or the University of Alabama bother to put city names on themselves, although both are part of two UA systems.
But "Nevada" or "UNR"....not so much. The only exception. UNLV, though happy with its own name, insists the school up north is UNR. In Reno the school is called "Nevada". And now they're in the same conference that is going to have find a way to identify the blue and silver university that will please one school and **** off the other.
UNLV vs. Nevada? UNLV vs. UNR?
Check the MWC web site. Should be interestng.
It's quite parallel to Berkeley/Cal. The school in Reno is "UNR," even here in another state. "Nevada" is almost always followed by "Wolfpack."
You knew, of course, that when its neighbor Utah deserted for the Pac-10, that things were destined not to be taken well at BYU.
Leaving for greener pastures, after all, is an old BYU Cougars' trick, not the Utes'. BYU dissatisfaction is what started the Mountain West Conference in the first place.
If you're keeping score at home, in fact -- and in Fort Worth, BYU fans, they are, they are -- Brigham Young University has now tried to walk out on TCU twice.
Can we all agree that the Cougars were on the brink of declaring their separation from the MWC?
Leagues don't call 11 p.m. news conferences unless they expect something to be happening early the next morning.
It's not, it seems, that the Mountain West needed Fresno State and Nevada to further its quest for an automatic BCS berth. It was BYU that needed Fresno and Nevada to help provide a soft Western Athletic Conference landing.
What followed was the classic scene from Peanuts, with Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown.
Pretty embarrassing, especially for a school that has tried to bully the last two conferences it's been in.
What happens now was the mystery of the day on Thursday, a day when athletic directors were curiously unable to return phone calls and even some conference commissioners were nowhere to be found.
This much we knew -- whatever BYU originally planned did not take place Thursday.
If taking two teams from the WAC was MWC commissioner Craig Thompson's bold ploy to ensure his league's survival, it worked.
The conference lives. But where will its champion be playing football in the Januarys to come? The question persists.
That is what Thursday's meetings in Colorado Springs, Colo., were all about, according to various sources.
Late Thursday night, a source close to the situation said that representatives from the Mountain West and another league -- believed to be Conference USA -- met in Colorado to discuss a plan to match the two conferences' champions in a title game, with the winner gaining an automatic BCS berth.
"You're on the right track," said the source. "The lawyers have told them [the BCS] that it's time to give someone else a chance."
Before this week, the Mountain West had seemed content to continue building its football portfolio -- BCS standings finishes, top 25 national rankings and overall conference strength -- in hopes of meeting the published criteria in two years as an automatic qualifier for a BCS bowl game.
Where that portfolio and Thursday's reported prize correspond isn't known.
The automatic bid will be available whether BYU remains in the MWC or not, a source said.
No one was talking Thursday about a merged, 23-team league, or even a fat-trimmed 20-team one. But there would be scheduling crossovers between the two leagues in some sports.
The marquee part of the agreement would be the football championship game.
An 11-team Mountain West Conference could be unwieldy. Teams won't be eager to play 10 conference games.
But if the ultimate prize is a berth in the title game with the Conference USA champion, they don't need to play all of the other teams every season. Nor would it be really necessary for the MWC to add a 12th team and play a league championship game.
Conference title games are not always lucrative necessities.
In years, perhaps, when two undefeated Mountain West teams did not meet during the regular season, the league could designate the higher team in the BCS standings as its title game representative.
No announcement came Thursday, in any case.
No defection press conference by BYU took place, either.
Read more: MWC, C-USA talking about merged title game? | Texas Christian University | Sports News and Vi... (http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/08/19/2414774/mwc-c-usa-talking-about-merged.html#ixzz0x7xoc79i - broken link)
Meh, that seems just like idle talk to fill in pages. Which is what over 75% of reports are on these things.
Who will be interested in such a set up for television.
I'll be surprised if BYU really leaves. I think they're just pulling a Texas.
I just hope BYU stays and the MWC goes to get Houston, gets a championship game and an auto bid. BAM! No more moving up, no more expansion in that region.
The talent pool and money is already at a breaking point, honestly.
I'd really like BYU to stay in the MWC, as you I'd be surprised if they left, getting Houston and a championship game would be the way to go, get all the expansion over and done with, get the championship game underway, and leave it at that. No more expansion!
Just hope this is all sorted before the real action begins.
Only other thing I'd like to see would be Temple going back to the Big East conference, but even IF that were to happen, they'd have to attain TCU like success to make it work.
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