In football - all other sports to the Big West. No link but it appears pretty official.

Link: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/brea ... 83259.html

Good for them. Less money for USU to spend traveling over there. IMO , the reason for only football and not other sports is the cost of travel.

This sucks. Does Westminster have a football team we can invite? We have to add another, and soon. The other perspective is that a spot was going to possibly go to HI or us, so there it is. I think this also means that TCU is gonzo, but it doesn't matter for us now. I hope I am wrong about all of this.

GeoAg wrote:This sucks. Does Westminster have a football team we can invite? We have to add another, and soon. The other perspective is that a spot was going to possibly go to HI or us, so there it is. I think this also means that TCU is gonzo, but it doesn't matter for us now. I hope I am wrong about all of this.

This is the part that concerns me deeply...

Now if we can get rid of La Tech USU may be able to have a winning conference record.

The music is about to stop playing and USU is not very close to one of the last remaining chairs. Where will my Aggies end up after the dust settles?

Yossarian wrote:Now if we can get rid of La Tech USU may be able to have a winning conference record.

The music is about to stop playing and USU is not very close to one of the last remaining chairs. Where will my Aggies end up after the dust settles?

The music will never "stop playing," Yossarian. Since the very inception of college football it has been a tangled mess of conference realignments. If we get temporarily left out of the MWC - so what? Does anyone really think that anything in college sports is really "for good?" You must be kidding.

I can't help but be a little surprised at this development. While I'm happy that things look like they're working out well for Hawai'i, I'm a little remorseful about leaving behind certain teams in the WAC. USU, Idaho and NMSU in particular. USU I would have thought would have garnered an invite to the MWC.

If you guys end up staying in the WAC, you have a chance to be the BULLS now though--so maybe that'll work out.

What WAC?

So is the only hope now for Air Force to go indy so that USU could possibly get a MWC invite?

I am assuming a TCU announcment is imminent or coming eventually shifting the MWC heavily to the west.

So, within the last year, the MWC has taken Boise St., Nevada, Fresno St., and Hawaii. If there ever was an opening, would USU be the next on the MWC's list? I know they could still benefit from trying to retain a portion of their Utah market with Utah and BYU leaving. Is it possible that they take L-tech, or Idaho before USU if the option became available?

bigbluebaby wrote:So is the only hope now for Air Force to go indy so that USU could possibly get a MWC invite?

I am assuming a TCU announcment is imminent or coming eventually shifting the MWC heavily to the west.

TCU board says the deal is done and they are gone to the BE. This is why the Hawaii move has taken place. We are screwed again.

I cannot figure out why the MWC wouldn't want to stay in Utah. Not only is it a good sized market but it has been a hot bed for recruits. I thought we would be the next to join but clearly I have been seeing through my "Aggie" glasses. Before we know it NMSU will be getting an invite to the MWC before us. This just sucks man. Our program is turning the corner to get the rug taken out from underneath us. I had gotten over the conference crap and now this....

How can the call bus league afford to go to Hawaii without the major revenue generator to cover the costs?

How many football schools does that leave the mtn west with after TCU leaves?

SDSU WYO UNLV Nevada fresneck New mex Colorado st Air force Boise State Hawaii 10...

Doesnt look like much room at that party even if Air force Leaves.. 9 and 10 team conferences work well..

Looks like we are the last ones without a chair boys..

I hope Sac state, or UC Davis, Montana and Montana State or North Texas will say yes or we are SOL>>> Hope we dont have to stoop to weber state or SUU.

CraaaaaPPPPP

Wow! I am pretty shocked by this. The MWC always complained about the travel associated with having Hawaii included but I suppose they avoid the cost of having to send all sports to the island this way.

This would bring the MWC membership to 10 (with TCU's departure) and essentially the new MWC would be the current WAC with bottom half FB teams swapped. So is dropping USU, SJSU, NMSU, and Idaho for Wyo, SDSU, UNLV, UNM an upgrade in football?

This makes very little sense to me. I thought one of the biggest reasons BYU left the conference altogether was that the MWC had a bylaw that basically said that membership had to be all or nothing. I know the BYU situation is the exact opposite of the Hawaii situation (BYU wanted to go indy in football and leave its other sports in the MWC while Hawaii has apparently been approved and a FB only member with other sports to the Big West) but doesn't the same reasoning apply?

I also think the fact that Hawaii is seemingly willing to be a football only member of the MWC would be a BIG reason why they were invited ahead of USU. Hawaii can do this if its other sports join the Big West because the BW doesn't sponsor football, otherwise Hawaii would not be allowed to divide up its athletic programs like this. This also leads me to wonder about TCU. Are they going to be full members of the Big East or what non-football playing conference would they park the rest of their sports in. TCU basketball pretty much sucks, so I could see how joining a smaller conference could be beneficial to them from that aspect.

I think we just need to be patient. The independent and Sun Belt days didn't last forever. USU was eventually invited to join the WAC shortly after Boise and Nevada did. Change is happening much more quickly these days. Could it be deja vu all over again with the MWC? I've always hated the MWC and everything that went into its creation. I've hated its superiority complex (as demonstrated by its marketing slogan "above the rest") and how they think they are much better than they really are. I hate its TV deal (although I've had to weigh the few national TV appearances USU makes every year against the possibility of having most games broadcast at least on some level). With all of that said I believe USU will someday be in the MWC and it will be the best thing for us. The thought makes me both happy and sick at the same time.

Cheecho6 wrote:I cannot figure out why the MWC wouldn't want to stay in Utah. Not only is it a good sized market but it has been a hot bed for recruits. I thought we would be the next to join but clearly I have been seeing through my "Aggie" glasses. Before we know it NMSU will be getting an invite to the MWC before us. This just sucks man. Our program is turning the corner to get the rug taken out from underneath us. I had gotten over the conference crap and now this....

This is the only thing that scares me. If UNM pulls a UNLV to get their instate institution into the same conference, USU is officially screwed. If NMSU gets invited, our last chance to stay a Division 1 school is for Air Force to go independent and USU to get that vacant spot.

I'm not going to believe anything until it is officially from Hair.

Aglicious wrote:Wow! I am pretty shocked by this. The MWC always complained about the travel associated with having Hawaii included but I suppose they avoid the cost of having to send all sports to the island this way.

This would bring the MWC membership to 10 (with TCU's departure) and essentially the new MWC would be the current WAC with bottom half FB teams swapped. So is dropping USU, SJSU, NMSU, and Idaho for Wyo, SDSU, UNLV, UNM an upgrade in football?

As much as it pains to admit it, that swap probably is a winner for the four departing schools. There are some travel benefits, revenue benefits and general perception. The incremental way in which it happens also favors the MWC. When the first schools were leaving, it wasn't clear that BYU was gone, and TCU to the Big East hadn't even been imagined. When the last school (Hawaii) left, they weren't trading the bottom four schools, they were ditching the likes of Denver, Louisiana Tech., Texas State and UTSA for Boise State, Nevada, Fresno, and the rest.

The WAC never had a chance in this battle, and I think the WAC is about to disband. It's now every school for itself, and I look for other schools to bail at the first opportunity. I don't think that there are any viable additional football candidates for WAC membership.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Louisiana Tech join the Sun Belt in the coming weeks. In fact, the WAC is so ugly now, I'd accept the idea of joining the Sun Belt for football and the Big Sky for all other sports. That's a very unpleasant thought, but the reality is that the WAC is quite possibly about to go away. If it doesn't, we are looking at a WAC that is really no more attractive than the Sun Belt/Big Sky.

travelingagg wrote:So, within the last year, the MWC has taken Boise St., Nevada, Fresno St., and Hawaii. If there ever was an opening, would USU be the next on the MWC's list? I know they could still benefit from trying to retain a portion of their Utah market with Utah and BYU leaving. Is it possible that they take L-tech, or Idaho before USU if the option became available?

USU is no longer on the MWC's list. Period. The fact that USU was one of the first schools contacted last round of expansion, and has now been passed up with an invite going to Hawaii shows that the MWC no longer has any interest in brining in USU.

I wouldn't give up yet, because I think Hawaii really jumped the gun on this announcement, it's possible that this is not the only move that the MWC is going to make. Although, If we don't hear something very soon it's bad, very very bad.

In JackMormon I trust,

We're SCREWED!

Aggieiester wrote:I wouldn't give up yet, because I think Hawaii really jumped the gun on this announcement, it's possible that this is not the only move that the MWC is going to make. Although, If we don't hear something very soon it's bad, very very bad.

Ding, Ding, Ding!!!

12 team conferences work pretty well also. I would assume they do since the PAC 10 expanded into 12 and the Big 10 expanded into 12.

Why would the MWC not expand into 12.... The BCS AQ gig is up for them with BYU, Utah, and TCU gone. Why not go with 12 teams like everyone else and have a conference championship game.

In that scenario the MWC would need to add two teams.

I suppose the travel expense thing isn't as big a deal when you're only considering football. Basically every 2 years you have to travel to Hawaii, and that's it.

Good move for Hawaii football, but obviously they don't care as much about their other sports like basketball.

The WAC wants to add North Texas. They should also look into Portland St. and Sacramento St. Basically the western United States doesn't have enough population and schools for more than two conferences right now (Pac and MWC), and the WAC is in a perpetual mode of bringing FCS teams to FBS for other conferences to cherry pick. Sooner or later though they'll have too many teams to cherry pick anymore. We're about at that point.

USU will be fine. If the MWC doesn't want Utah (larger than New Mexico, Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming) then it's their loss and something unique the WAC will have.

I really don't think the MWC ever had any plans to bring USU in. I think they called to see IF we had interest just to see if the rumor they hear about BYU was true. Once we said no, they jumped and took the schools they really wanted.

CCCHHHHHOOOOOOOO! CCCCHHHHHOOOOOOOO!


We really are fu ed!

Where is the midnight train when we need him? Does he know about the new board.

The last time we saw the Midnight Train:

At this point the more unceartain things get the better it is for USU. The more schools that are half in one conference and half in another the better. That just means that things are going to keep changing. I don't think this is anywhere near done. The Big 12 may or may not expand. The BE is going to Expand. The PAC 12 could always look to expand again if they can get Texas. The SEC wants to have a footprint in Texas for market and for recuriting for current members. The ACC seems to set for now but who knows. I really do feel that when this is all said and done either the WAC or MWC will be gone and thier will be a new conference. BYU will not be happy playing basketball in 4,000 seat areans. It was a short term fix. To get out of the MWC tv deal and take advantage of ESPN losing Boise. Over the next 6 to 9 months it will get even more crazy.

kofdog wrote:I really don't think the MWC ever had any plans to bring USU in. I think they called to see IF we had interest just to see if the rumor they hear about BYU was true. Once we said no, they jumped and took the schools they really wanted.

My thoughts exactly.

I have yet to see an "official" response to this from the MWC (only a "they said" in the Star Adveriser), on ESPN or any other source. None of my usual sources have said jack squat about it, either. Finally, why would the Big West schools, which HATED the costs of traveling to Logan, Utah, a mere two hours away by plane in those days (they can fly directly here now, if they charter) want to suddenly take all of their olympic sports to Honolulu, which is expensive to get to and expensive to stay at once there. That makes no sense at all.

I'm not saying this won't happen, but I think it's wishful thinking by somebody at this point. When all the big media boys start weighing in on it, then I'll look at it a little harder.

If they go to 12 for a championship game we're still in, in my opinion.

BigEZ43 wrote:

kofdog wrote:I really don't think the MWC ever had any plans to bring USU in. I think they called to see IF we had interest just to see if the rumor they hear about BYU was true. Once we said no, they jumped and took the schools they really wanted.

My thoughts exactly.

This is not true. Don't fall for the Fresno and Nevada line on this. They were serious about their interest when they called us because they had already been notified by BYU about BYU's plans. They didn't need to call us to find out. BYU's president was trying to be up front and in doing so tipped his hand early, leaving time for the MWC to react before the trigger was pulled. The timeline was to announce on Thursday. The MWC was informed on Tuesday morning. We got the call on Wednesday, as did NV and Fresno.

Geo is right. I believe it was an interview with Kustra in the Idaho Statesman that he mentioned that all of the Presidents of the MWC and BJC knew that YBU was leaving because Samuelson had voiced his displeasure on a conference call with all of the Pres'. After Samuelson hung up the rest of the conference discussed options on how to handle the Zoobie departure. It is interesting how some of our own tend to regurgitate the wrong info that they read off of the WAC board. The MWC already knew because Samuelson told them.

He not only voiced his displeasure. He told them they were leaving and where they were going. This was all to avoid being demonized as they were when the MWC split off.