Independence IS sustainable

[Fido]

Very interesting read. It is one of the first recent articles I've seen based on information and not emotion and/or fear.

[hawkwing]

Ryan is a very smart guy. I've worked with him in my business before and he knows his stuff.

[SpiffCoug]

That's fine that it's sustainable. But is it a successful product? Right now that doesn't appear to be the case.

[ABYUFAN]

I wonder how many of BYU's current problems would have been cured by not being independent. Maybe football. Without independence Bronco would have likely bolted earlier, and we'd be past Sitake by now. I don't see how Basketball would be any better. That said, maybe there were some recruits that chose a MWC school over BYU that I don't know about, but I don't see Toolson, Chatman or any of the other transfers staying because of the allure of the MWC.

[Gunk]

I don't think much would have changed performance wise with football. Yes, there may have been an earlier coaching change. But, we still would have gotten little more than a no-name bowl invite.

Basketball is a bigger question mark. Rose clearly performed better in the MWC for whatever reason. Would we have received more NCAA tourney invites or better seeding? I tend to think so. The WCC has not been good for us basketball wise.

[Mars]

That's fine that it's sustainable. But is it a successful product? Right now that doesn't appear to be the case.

Successful as in making, not losing, money? Yes.

Successful as in making MORE money than before? Again, yes.

As successful on the field as before? No. But that is mostly unrelated to Indy/WCC in the main two sports. They happened at the same time, but one didn't cause the other. Might as well blame Donald Trump, since BYU football has struggled so much since he took office.

[BroncoBot]

To think independence has caused a decline in BYU sports can only be blamed on BYU. They've had the exposure and the more difficult schedules they've wanted and came up lacking.

[YNot]

To think independence has caused a decline in BYU sports can only be blamed on BYU. They've had the exposure and the more difficult schedules they've wanted and came up lacking.

It's true that there would have been, and will continue to be, growing pains simply because of the improved schedules. But the main culprit of 4-9 was the gamble to bring on the inexperienced coaching staff (stacked with alumni) - not independence and not the better schedule.

Remember, last year's team struggled against a winless FCS team and lost to 3-9 ECU and 4-8 UMass. We would have struggled for a bowl-eligible season even if we had a full MWC conference slate.

[EM_Puma]

I follow BYU sports because I want to feel the euphoria that accompanies a successful season. Why else would I use my limited quantity of time? It's a purely selfish pull on my part to feel the greatness of overcoming adversity and winning, or just being dominant. Both work for my sports ego. If BYU could sustain great teams under independence for football and make a splash on the bowl scene, then I'm all for it. They haven't. So that brings me back to conference affiliation. I have it for BB and other sports, but not for football. There was a reason that Notre Dame went to a scheduling model with the ACC and it wasn't because they couldn't get teams to play them. I believed in the beginning that we chose independence because it freed us up to be able to move up and was a better option than staying status quo in the MWC.

I want football back in a conference. Of course I prefer a power conference. I believe we'd probably have the same results that Utah has experienced and we would usually be there somewhere in the middle of the pack, but I'm willing to take that gamble. But, a conference is important to me to have something, after we've lost 2 of our September games to P5's, to strive for that I'm not getting in independence. I'm not convinced that I'm not open to the MWC, but just personally, I'd like to see us find a partner (Boise, AF, SDSU) that would go with us into the AAC. I view that as a much more beneficial association.

[imuakahuku]

I would like stay Indy until, if ever, we get the P5 invite. That said I would like us to aggressively pursue scheduling agreements with B12 (2-4gm/yr) PAC (2-4gm/yr), AAC (2gm/yr) and MWC (4gm/yr) and then fill in any holes with ACC, BIG10 and ND with a #13 vs Weber St or SUU when we get Hawaii scheduled. (note: I say if you are going to play a smaller school, keep it in state and give the fans and the home state schools the $ and the thrill, forget Portland State etc. I would be OK with ISU or Idaho because of the large LDS populations etc in Idaho.
My thought on the scheduling agreements would be more certainty in scheduling for recruiting and possibly better balance in the schedule. If we have the agreements we have a better chance of getting later in the year games because the P5 conferences become more acclimated to BYU which would hopefully lead to a treatment more like ND.