Grading Independence

Maybe someone smarter than me can set up a poll for this topic.



Now that the season is over, I think it's time to grade the first season in independence on the factors the Independence was slated to deliver:

Funding

Exposure

Access



Where do you grade each? Use A-F with I for incomplete.



Funding: A. By all accounts the ESPN deal and others brought in > $10MM. This is light years beyond what the mtn and MWC delivered, even with multiple teams in bowls. How to improve? By creating a better bowl tie-in.



Exposure: A. 11 games on ESPN networks (including the Bowl). Yes, some were on at night, but they were available across the country on cable and satellite systems. Further rebroadcast rights, and the proof statement for the BYUtv home and mobile capabilities (especially the OSU game).



Access: B-. The mantra has been "Win and you're in". Boise and Houston proved that if you don't win, you're not in. BYU still needs some work here. There's access, then there's earning it. BYU can do its part (win and play enough quality that you're prepared for the bowl). Lots of rumors swirling on how access will tie in going forward. I didn't give an Incomplete because if the rules change, the success barometer does as well.

I am concerned independence is a slow death for byu football.

As far as your 3 criteria, Funding has never been an issue at BYU. I'm pretty confident that BYU could build a war chest that would dwarf Utah's, even when Utah gets the 100% Pac-12 share, but sure, and extra 9 million+ is nothing to turn away from.



Exposure: sure 11 games on the top 3 tiers of ESPN is great. I doubt we get that going forward, but BYU tv will pick up most of what's left if it's allowed to. But how much exposure do you get playing 10:00pm ET games against terrible teams? If you're on and no one is watching, is it really exposure.



Access: non-AQ means no access. Sorry, unless we get invited in or run the table access will not be granted. Better bowl games are pretty much worthless. Anything outside of the BCS bowls is just better looking lipstick on a really ugly pig.



The real issues that need to be looked at to determine success of the program is recruiting and competition.



Just this past week BYU football lost out on a 3 star DL to Utah. That's nothing unusual, until you find out that he has been a life-long BYU fan. The combination of our rival being in the Pac-12 and us being a non AQ independent could have a huge effect on our ability to get players that we would have gotten even 2 years ago. Also, understand that if Utah wanted him at DL, he's probably going to be really good. This, along with losing Chase Hansen, Jason Buck's kid and a number of other players should be very concerning to BYU fans. Sure, we got Troy Hinds (who didn't perform as well his senior season as we would have hoped), but we really got hammered in-state for the first time in a very long time. Right now, an incomplete would be the grade, but if I was forced to give an actual grade, the best would be a C.



Competition is also an incomplete. I really like the 2013 schedule as far as balance home vs away. Out of the first 4 years (2011 to 2014), it is the only balanced schedule. So, 25% of the first 4 schedules are a success. The first 2 were on such short notice that I'm pretty sure that it's the best that could have happened, so we can give a pass on those two. 2014, while an interesting schedule with trips to Texas and ND, is extremely weak at home. Even if the Utah series is renewed, that would be a road game that year.



While I don't reject your grading criteria completely, I think that there are other factors that are much more important in determining success.

Stuck - compared to what. Do you really want to keep beating yourself and the team up because being Indy does not compare to being Big 12?



Memo: we were not offered. That was not an option.



Our options probably were - stay in MWC, jump to WAC, or apply for C-USA.



So which of those do you wish BYU had done instead of going Indy? What other option do you believe BYU had.



Let us know what real option BYU should have chosen.



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stuckinbig10country wrote:
Just this past week BYU football lost out on a 3 star DL to Utah. That's nothing unusual, until you find out that he has been a life-long BYU fan. The combination of our rival being in the Pac-12 and us being a non AQ independent could have a huge effect on our ability to get players that we would have gotten even 2 years ago. Also, understand that if Utah wanted him at DL, he's probably going to be really good. This, along with losing Chase Hansen, Jason Buck's kid and a number of other players should be very concerning to BYU fans. Sure, we got Troy Hinds (who didn't perform as well his senior season as we would have hoped), but we really got hammered in-state for the first time in a very long time. Right now, an incomplete would be the grade, but if I was forced to give an actual grade, the best would be a C.

How did we lose this kid? He didn't even want to come down to Provo (all of 40 miles away) to meet with the BYU coaches. Do we know if there were other factors in play (grades, honor code, etc.)? There could be any myriad reasons why this "life-long BYU fan" didn't chose BYU.



Chase Hansen isn't coming because he wants to play QB and he saw BYU already had received a commitment from Tanner Mangum. We get Hansen if we don't get Mangum.

Ive been wondering the same about the DL kid. As for Buck, has anyone heard anything great about him? He looked undersized when I saw him a year ago.



Grades from BYU's standpoint, and as asked for in this thread.



Funding: B, but that is a lot better than a D- to an F in the MWC.

Exposure: B, again the same thing. Tremendous improvement, but 10pm EST isn't the full monty hoped for. But a western mid-major team is only going to get so much. NBC isn't likely to pick us up anytime soon, so I think folks have to be realistic.

Access: C. Well, it seems about the same as in the MWC. Still have to go undefeated to get a sniff of a BCS game. Not going to get NC game unless a few great years are strung together. So, a lot out of our control. It was a C before and its a C now.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Chase Hansen isn't coming because he wants to play QB and he saw BYU already had received a commitment from Tanner Mangum. We get Hansen if we don't get Mangum.

Not sure that the Indy label was ever argued to improve recruiting. With improved exposure (vs the mtn) the question really remains how well do we do vs :utard: for the in-state kids.



However, I wonder how 2011 will be read by recruits. Will they see it as performance = opportunity, even with a stable full of competition?

I think we will have final grades for this by 2014. It is either going to work really well for BYU by then, or BYU will be looking to form its own conference again by then, unless B12 comes calling. 2014 is when the next round of BCS changes occur, and also when the B12 ESPN TV deal comes up again. THat will be the year we will be able to really know if Indy is long term or not.

Lawboy wrote:
I think we will have final grades for this by 2014. It is either going to work really well for BYU by then, or BYU will be looking to form its own conference again by then, unless B12 comes calling. 2014 is when the next round of BCS changes occur, and also when the B12 ESPN TV deal comes up again. THat will be the year we will be able to really know if Indy is long term or not.

I agree with this.



So far Indy has met expectations for me. The tv access was terrific. We knew the bowl and schedule situation would stink early on. Hopefully by 2014 things will settle in those two areas as well.

jonnylingo wrote:
I am concerned independence is a slow death for byu football.

If it starts hurting BYU, the admin should just get the team into a conference. There's nothing to worry about. As many bridges as we think we have burned, someone will take us. We're top 25 in attendance regularly and have one of the highest winning percentages in recent decades. Slow death seemed more like what we were experiencing under the mtn contract.

It's hard for me to complain. My cable bill dropped almost $100 and I didn't miss a single game on "TV" this season (thanks JTV vs OSU). Yeah it was not a great year, but hey it was a typical BYU year.