Holmoe, Whittingham, and Shurtleff walk into a room

[Mars]

No joke: http://wyomingcowboysblog.com/2010/06/2 ... -talk-bcs/
http://twitter.com/rpgagliardi

[Y 4 Ever]

No joke: http://wyomingcowboysblog.com/2010/06/2 ... -talk-bcs/
http://twitter.com/rpgagliardi

Dangit, Mars, I was looking for a knee slapper!

[Mars]

Holmoe really doesn't sound like he feels like scheduling Utah again in anything anytime soon, does he? Man.

[Florwood]

Doesn't sound like he's feeling much of anything good. I don't know. I don't think so. I doubt it. No it won't. Definitely a man in pain.

[Mars]

The Interview y'all have been waiting for...
Tom Holmoe speaks (and he actually drops the dreaded "I" word... )! http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7000 ... uture.html

" BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe didn't look like a man on the edge. Rather, he appeared to have a plan. What that plan is, he wouldn't specify, only to note that BYU football isn't dead. Reports of its demise have been greatly exaggerated... "Things may settle for a little bit," Holmoe said, "but there's opportunities — great opportunities for BYU that did not exist last week." Holmoe wouldn't get specific, except to say doors are opening.

"I don't want people to think that we're just casually sitting back with a laissez-faire attitude," added Holmoe. "Believe me, there are more people are energized about BYU now than there have been since I've been there. I think that — in meeting today with very high-up officials — we will do what's in the best interest of BYU. We'll make the most out of this situation, but we won't change. We're not going to change. We don't necessarily know exactly what will happen, but hey, Utah didn't know until the day before they got invited."

...If you're looking for confirmation that the move hurt BYU, you won't hear it from Holmoe. Ever since Utah was invited on June 17 to join the Pac-10, BYU has maintained a cool distance. Naturally, the media went to Provo for a reaction, not long after the announcement came... rather than say anything, BYU officials took the Fifth. The silence ended Friday, when Holmoe shared the podium with Ute coach Kyle Whittingham and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff at a conference of the nation's sports editors. The subject for discussion was the BCS. That led to questions about Utah and whether joining an automatic qualifying conference might actually help the Cougars. "We'll see," said Holmoe...

BYU may yet join another conference, like the Big 12, which at this point includes just 10 schools. It might mean the Mountain West gains automatic qualifying status, either on its own or in a merger. "It's a huge challenge to redefine our identity," said Holmoe. In the same breath, he added, "But our identity's not going to change. It doesn't matter if we're in the Pac-10, the Big Ten, the Mountain West Conference or independent; it doesn't matter. We are BYU. We will always be BYU. We will never change. We're NOT in (certain) conferences because of who we are."

Holmoe hastened to add that BYU doesn't intend to stand down. On the contrary, last week's events ramped up his resolve. "It's a good check for us right now," Holmoe continued. "There's a lot of work for us to do. ... In this time frame, we have our allegiances. BYU has certain allegiances, and BYU has lived up to them, and now we have opportunities that didn't exist in the past." Calling in some markers, maybe? "I'm not saying," he said, "but we're excited about the future." "

[88Coug]

Being independent would only work in the BCS system if BYU got a deal like ND allowing them into the BCS if they qualified.

Would BYU do pretty well as a independent financially? Sure. Could we schedule 12 meaningful games a year? No, we have enough problems scheduling. We would likely play 2 BCS schools (one of which could be Utah) and a bunch of CUSA, WAC, and MWC schools.

Now, if the BCS system blew up (and the bowl tie-ins were attacked on anti-trust grounds), it would be fine. BYU would play in big pay out bowl games on a regular basis.

As to TV, BYU already has all the facilities for self-broadcasting. It could add an advertiser-based BYU Sports channel to BYU TV and use it to make money. Tax issues (and the relationship between having a non-profit TV station combined with a for-profit TV station) might get a little sticky, but doable. ESPN would likely like the option to 4 or more games per year.

The problem with being independent really grows in non-revenue sports. Even ND is in a conference for everything but football. Would the MWC let BYU stay in for non-revenue sports? Would BYU even consider rejoining the WAC for non-revenue sports?

Given all that, I would much rather be affiliated with a BCS conference than independent, at least under the current set up.

[CougarClaw]

Going independenth as already been discussed ad nauseum on these boards. The odds of BYU going independent are probably at about 2.3%. I'd take the decimals further out for y'all if it would help.

I wouldn't give any weight to the "I" word any more than the Pac-10 and Big 10 he mentions in the same sentence. Maybe instead we should read into the fact that he DIDN"T mention the Big 12, which is our most likely eventual landing spot in 2094 when they come to their senses.

Another interesting note: Here we have a BYU AD, one of the most important people in helping decide BYU's future and he's referring to "higher-ups". How much higher can we go? Samuelson? Beebe? More than likely, I think Holmoe's referring to angelic visitation since that's really the only higher- up that makes sense. And if THEY're excited. then I"M excited.

[Lawboy]

At BYU, the higher ups are simply the university president, and the board of trustees. From what I have been told, Holmoe and Samuelson are both working the Big 12 angle hard right now on the down low. And based upon these comments, I assume it is with the blessing of the Board of Trustees, otherwise known as The Brethren.

[CougarClaw]

that's great that the brethren are okay with the university earning millions more in football revenue, but I dont' think they have a whole lot of political sway with Big 12 decision makers. So that's great that everyone's excited for BYU's future, but for me as a fan, that just means we're staying where we're at which is much less to be excited about.

[imuakahuku]

Speaking of Wyoming, I went to my daughter's dance review this weekend (it was a full house at a large broadway type theater), and in one of the parking lots was an old almost "conversion van" with the raised roof. It had cracked paint and dents everywhere and was so cockeyed how it was parked that nobody could comfortable use the stalls around it. And inside were several dogs barking at people walking by the van. It appeared to be stuffed full as there were items that had fallen into the windows (between the window and the curtain). I got around the back of it as I walked from my car and noticed the license plate was from Wyoming! Hmmm, I wonder if they were Cowboy fans?