TUESDAY UPDATE: It sounds like this was a false alarm. Here’s the official statement from the Mountain West Board of Directors:
Over the past two days, the Board of Directors has engaged in a very thorough discussion of several key topics pertinent to the future of the Mountain West Conference. This has included, but not been limited to, issues related to television, the Bowl Championship Series and membership. The Board feels strongly the membership configuration already established going forward creates outstanding prospects for future success. In addition, we are continuing with our strategic initiatives related to our television partnerships and the MWC’s efforts to effect change in the BCS structure. The Board is excited about what is undoubtedly a bright future for the Conference.
In other words, no expansion right now. So… uh… never mind! (The WAC-enstein Zombie: IT’S ALIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!) Original post below.
Just when it looked like the WAC might survive, shedding its status as a zombie conference in favor of just being a really bad conference, the Karl Benson #PANIC!!! Meter is back to Defcon 1 this afternoon with the news, spreading like wildfire on Twitter, that Utah State and San Jose State will apparently join a 12-team Mountain West, leaving the WAC with just three current members out of its current 9-team lineup (Idaho, Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State). With Texas State, Texas-San Antonio and Denver (non-football) set to join in 2012-13, we’re looking at a 5-football-team, 6-team-total WAC, which doesn’t meet even the newly relaxed NCAA standards.
The Mountain West, meanwhile, will have as many ex-WAC members (Boise State, Nevada, Fresno State, Utah State, San Jose State, Hawaii in football) as it does current MWC members (Air Force, San Diego State, New Mexico, Colorado State, Wyoming, UNLV). THIS IS GREAT NEWS!! FOR BOISE STATE!! [/Baghdad Bob]
Assuming these as-yet unconfirmed reports are accurate, I really can’t see how this ends well for the WAC. I suppose, in theory, Benson may be able to construct a bargain-basement conference consisting of the aforementioned Unspectacular Six plus, say, Lamar, Sam Houston State and Cal Poly (for 8 in football) plus, in the non-football ranks, Seattle, UC-Bakersfield and Utah Valley State (for 12 total). But, I mean, really?! Without Utah State as its basketball “anchor,” that conference has no real reason to exist, and “godawful” doesn’t even begin to describe its component parts. I’m not sure why anyone would want to join such a league. Surely Denver and Seattle must be on the phone today with the WCC with renewed urgency, and surely Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State must likewise be calling the Sun Belt — a good indicator, in and of itself, that Denver should perhaps reconsider its pending downgrade. As for Idaho? Sorry, guys. You’re the mini-Iowa State of this deal. Maybe the Big Sky would be interested?
Maybe the Sun Belt will take Idaho too? I fgure New Mexico and L Tech are a given (unless C-USA wants them for some inexplicable reason). That would bump them up to 12 football members, let them do a conference championship game, etc.
Hilarious. I guess my only mistake when I once predicted that the WAC and MWC would someday re-merge is that I assumed it would occur under amicable circumstances.
Even if those other schools jump, DU is still better off playing with the WAC leftovers than they are staying in the Sun Belt, where no one in Denver can identify with any of the SBC schools.
DU has wanted to be in the WCC all along, but the WCC has shown only moderate interest in taking us, even when financial incentives were offered.
Swami, I bought that rationale when Utah State was still in the WAC, but now? Louisiana Tech is basically a Sun Belt school out of its region, so that leaves Idaho and New Mexico State as the only “WAC leftovers” who folks in Denver might be able to “identify with” more than Western Kentucky, North Texas and the like. Add in the two Texas schools that joined along with Denver, and whatever further bottom-feeders Benson adds, and you’re left with a craptastic league with no “name” schools and nobody Denver fans are going to get excited to play. “OMG Cal Poly is coming to town! Wow, Utah Valley State! Gotta go to that one!” I don’t mean to be overly sarcastic, but I just don’t see it. Maybe it’s still a good move because of travel costs, but yikes. If it’s an “upgrade” in some sense, it’s not much of one.
Put it another way: don’t compare the New WAC to the Sun Belt. Compare it to the Big Sky. Are we sure it’s better?
We could see the Sun Belt as a 16 team super-conference with some of the outliers, like Idaho as football only members too i’d imagine, something like the following:
Sun Belt West:
Idaho (football only)
New Mexico
Texas State
Texas – San Antonio
North Texas
Louisianna Tech
UL- Monroe
East
FAU
FIU
Troy
W Kentucky
MTSU
Ark State
UL Lafyette
Then you have Denver in the West and Arkansas – Little Rock in the East as non-football members.
David beat me to it. The logical next step is for the WAC and Sun Belt to join forces. They can at least rival the MAC.
“By our power combined, we are….still a crappy conference.”
BRAAAAAIIIINNNNSSSSSS!!! WAC NEEDS BRAAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS!!!
Worst. Superconference. Ever.
Would the WAC go on existing? Would the WAC continue sending teams to the NCAA tourney’s door?
Quoth the Aggies: Nevermore
LOL
Then all the Captains of the Mountain West cried aloud, for their hearts were filled with a new hope in the midst of darkness. Out from the beleaguered hills knights of Fresno, Riders of Nevada, Dúnedain of Hawaii, close-serried companies, drove against their wavering foes, piercing the press with the thrust of bitter spears. But Craig Thompson lifted up his arms and called once more in a clear voice:
‘Stand, Men of the Mountain West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom.’
And even as he spoke the earth rocked beneath their feet. Then rising swiftly up, far above the Towers of the WAC Gate, high above the mountains, a vast soaring darkness sprang into the sky, flickering with fire. The earth groaned and quaked. The Towers of Benson swayed, tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart crumbled; the WAC Gate was hurled in ruin; and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to the clouds, there came a drumming rumble, a roar, a long echoing roll of ruinous noise.
‘The realm of Benson is ended!’ said Gandalf. ‘The Blue Aggies have fulfilled their Quest.’
“We must join with them, Karl. We must join with the Mountain West. It would be wise, my friend.”
“Tell me, “friend”, when did Utah State, the Blue Aggies, abandon reason for madness?”
“A new power is rising! Its victory is at hand! This night, the land will be stained with the blood of the WAC! March to Utah State! Leave no conference alive! TO WAR!!! There will be no dawn for the WAC!”
Denver: Is there any hope, Karl, for the WAC?
Karl Benson: There never was much hope. Just a fool’s hope.
I’m assuming re-joining the Sun Belt is out of the question… we never wanted to be in it in the first place. I hope the good Christians of the WCC will have mercy and take us in. As the #1 non-football school in the country, you would think we would get a little more interest…
As the #1 non-football school in the country…
By what standard of measure?
Worst. Superconference. Ever.
Well, sure, but only from the standpoint that it’d be the only superconference. What you can’t provide in the form of quality, it’s worth giving a shot at promoting in quantity. Who’s to say that a new Boise State or TCU couldn’t arise out of a 14-team Sun Belt / WAC super-league? They’d also be better positioned to survive any sort of FBS super-league consolidation trend that might take place over the next 5-10 years.
AML, Denver has received the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) All-Sports trophy for three straight years. (“The Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association’s mission is to enhance initiatives common to its Division I-AAA membership (the 95 Division I institutions that do not sponsor football).”)
And I agree, the proposed Super-Sun-WAC is probably the best available alternative at this point. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea. I just felt like somebody needed to say “Worst. Superconference. Ever.” because, yikes.
I’m sure we win every year because hockey, skiing, and mens lax is so strong, but the work being done/money being spent to make gymnastics, basketball, soccer, and others contenders each year should count for something when the WCC is looking for members.
The WCC would just make it SO much easier to recruit quality players (playing Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, Portland, etc.)
Besides, the WCC just sounds better that the WCE (Worst Conference Ever) haha
Heh. The WCC would certainly be the best option for Denver. My understanding is that the WCC has never outright said no, but keeps tabling further expansion discussions. They’ve got all the power; both Denver and Seattle are desperate to get in.
It does seem like adding Denver would make sense for them, from a TV market perspective. And with BYU already in the fold in non-football sports, it’s not like they’re breaking new ground by moving away from being “West Coast” only. But if they want to keep playing a full round-robin, they probably need to add ONLY ONE of Denver and Seattle, so maybe that’s the debate. Add both, and it’s an 11-team league, and I don’t think anyone plays a 20-game conference schedule.
P.S. Budget-wise, Denver’s $24.1 million would actually make them by far the biggest program in the current WCC, though well below new-member BYU ($35M), of course. (The same is true in the Sun Belt, but by a narrower margin.) Looking at basketball budget only, Denver’s $2.27 million would place them second behind Gonzaga (third once BYU joins), but right in the same ballpark as San Diego, San Francisco and Loyola Marymount. Interesting, BTW, that St. Mary’s is fifth and Portland is dead last in the conference, yet both do more with less.
UPDATE: Never mind!
I’m dissapointed you simply updated this post. A new post with the title “It’s ALLIIIIIVEEE” would have been so much cooler.
I tweeted something along those lines, but you have a point…
There, fixed the “update” headline 🙂
Wait, so this entire post was predicated solely on Twitter rumors? Not one link to a real life news story? Lame. I can’t believe I fell for it.
Twitter rumors from journalists who are regulars covering the WAC/MWC and were very good during the previous expansion bursts.
I.E. coming from multiple sources, etc. May have been close to right too, we don’t know how close the final decision was, could have been a last minute change of heart.
What David said. It wasn’t just “Twitter rumors” originating with, like, Bleacher Report or whatever. It was actual, real-live newspaper reporters, tweeting about what their sources were telling them. I didn’t link to any of the individual tweets because I was in a hurry, but there was every reason to believe this was legit, just like when Chip Brown was tweeting breaking developments in the Pac-16 expansion story. And indeed, as David said, it may very well have been legit and on track to happen, just like the Pac-16 was, until it didn’t. In that vein, an interesting tidbit from Eric Frandsen (who, unlike some of the other tweeters on this story, I’m not familiar with as a reporter): “At #USU coaches luncheon today, [AD Scott] Barnes abruptly left to take a call, came back looking anxious, grabbed [men’s basketball coach] Stew [Morrill] immediately after.”
If it’s on the internets, it must be true!
Denver offered the WCC financial incentives to join and they still said no to us. Even BYU wanted us in the WCC as their travek partner when they jumped to the WCC in non-football sports, but the WCC keeps saying no to us. There is not much Denver can do. We need to be in a conference to have a shot at the NCAAs, and to recruit.