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The WAC's next move is....

by Jumanji · 8/19/2010

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Jumanji
So, with Nevada and Fresno St leaving the WAC we are left to wonder what will become of the WAC and do we want to associate ourselves with them?



Who will replace Nevada and Fresno st, and will they be respectable enough to justify the move to independence by BYU? I know that the olympic sports are not as important to BYU but I don't like the idea of associating ourselves with what the WAC has become. I would say that the ball is in their court (the WACs) to bring in some quality replacements.



What are their options? UTEP, Houston, Tulsa, Montana?
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BYUROCKS
Tulsa, SMU, UTEP, would be fine, good with FB, and also good with BB, which lets face it, the 2 that count.
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Italics
The WAC should invite, in this order:



- Houston

- UTEP

- SMU

- Tulsa

- Montana



UTEP, Tulsa, Houston, and Montana offer good basketball programs, and UTEP, Houston, SMU, and Tulsa offer good football programs.



In fact, I think any two of the first four teams would be an upgrade over Nevada/Fresno State. Neither UNR/FSU even made the NCAA tourney last year, and MWC fans should know as well as anyone how poor their football teams proved to be in the end.
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Mingjai
The WAC should invite all the schools you mention. Then they should also invite the entire WCC as non-football schools. That would be a pretty good basketball conference. As long as the division were reasonable drawn, the travel expenses could be managed.
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CannonCougar85
The WAC should invite UNLV and SDSU first and foremost. Use the exit money from UNR and FSU as an enticement and promise that BYU will play them in football. San Diego and Las Vegas are 2 places that benefit tremendously by having BYU in town. The BYU game is the only game that either of those schools even come close to selling out.
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craigoscarson
The WAC probably needs to start working on their obituary.
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scott715
Also invite NM with the UNLV.
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Mars
craigoscarson wrote:
The WAC probably needs to start working on their obituary.

Louisiana Tech- C-USA

NMSU- The Sunbelt

Hawaii- Independent

Utah State- Div. I-AA

San Jose State- Div. I-AA

Idaho- Div. I-AA
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Y 4 Ever
For the Wac to survive, they need to convince at least 2 DECENT FBS football schools to come on over. Take your pick - UTEP, Tulsa, SMU, Houston. Of course...it'll be a hard sell convincing them to leave Conf USA for the WAC, even with BYU as a member in non-football sports.



They ALSO need to adopt the Big East model bring in some basketball only schools that are DECENT - Gonzaga, St Marys, to name a few.



And if this doesn't happen...I don't see BYU going through with the Indy plan right now. Sorry, by the WCC is just NOT a good option. The only other two options thing I can think of is try to get into a non-football league that wouldn't make geographical sense - the MIssouri Valley - or a football conference that MIGHT consider adding a non-football team, but still makes even less geographical sense - Conf USA.



Those are the only options that I see for BYU's other sports should they follow through with their independence quest, summarized in order of appeal and likelihood.



1. Reconstructed Wac, with two of UTEP, SMU, Tulsa, Houston, or Rice

2. Missouri Valley

3. Conf USA

4. WCC (PLEASE NO!)
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Mars
33311710 wrote:
For the Wac to survive, they need to convince at least 2 DECENT FBS football schools to come on over. Take your pick - UTEP, Tulsa, SMU, Houston.

Schools that left the WAC, back when they had 8 schools? No way.
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CannonCougar85
Mars wrote:
For the Wac to survive, they need to convince at least 2 DECENT FBS football schools to come on over. Take your pick - UTEP, Tulsa, SMU, Houston.

Schools that left the WAC, back when they had 8 schools? No way.


It's all about money Mars and if ESPN is really behind all of this they can throw some money around to entice those schools to join the WAC again.
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Mars
CannonCougar85 wrote:
It's all about money Mars and if ESPN is really behind all of this they can throw some money around to entice those schools to join the WAC again.

ESPN could also pay me to join the WAC. I'm sitting here waiting for that call right now.



ESPN pays WAC schools $600K a year, less than half of what MWC/C-USA teams make, and that will go down drastically with Boise State gone, let alone FSU and UNR.
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Y 4 Ever
Mars wrote:
For the Wac to survive, they need to convince at least 2 DECENT FBS football schools to come on over. Take your pick - UTEP, Tulsa, SMU, Houston.

Schools that left the WAC, back when they had 8 schools? No way.


Hey, I never said it WOULD happen - I said that's what it would take for the WAC to survive (at least as a D-1A conference). Personally, I think that the WAC is toast. And too bad - fans of Utah State, Hawaii, San Jose St, and Idaho just got totally screwed, and they love their teams too. (NOTE: NMSU and Louisiana Tech weren't included because they at least have viable options, whereas Hawaii, USU, and Idaho don't).



The Sunbelt could be about to span across 5 timezones.
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CannonCougar85
Mars wrote:
It's all about money Mars and if ESPN is really behind all of this they can throw some money around to entice those schools to join the WAC again.

ESPN could also pay me to join the WAC. I'm sitting here waiting for that call right now.



ESPN pays WAC schools $600K a year, less than half of what MWC/C-USA teams make, and that will go down drastically with Boise State gone, let alone FSU and UNR.


But you're forgetting that ESPN is losing control of the western market. The PAC is signing with Fox and that leaves ESPN with the WAC without Reno, Fresno and Boise. That is all they have in the west. ESPN needs to add more teams to the WAC and they would be willing to pay more money to do so.
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Mars
CannonCougar85 wrote:
ESPN needs to add more teams to the WAC and they would be willing to pay more money to do so.

Disagree. ESPN won't put their money where their wishes are in this case, IMO. Why fight that hard and shell out millions to save SJSU-Idaho football games? Are they really going to compete with the PAC-12 that way? :skeptic:
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Y 4 Ever
CannonCougar85 wrote:
CannonCougar85 wrote:
It's all about money Mars and if ESPN is really behind all of this they can throw some money around to entice those schools to join the WAC again.

ESPN could also pay me to join the WAC. I'm sitting here waiting for that call right now.



ESPN pays WAC schools $600K a year, less than half of what MWC/C-USA teams make, and that will go down drastically with Boise State gone, let alone FSU and UNR.


But you're forgetting that ESPN is losing control of the western market. The PAC is signing with Fox and that leaves ESPN with the WAC without Reno, Fresno and Boise. That is all they have in the west. ESPN needs to add more teams to the WAC and they would be willing to pay more money to do so.


Interesting point. And if the WAC DOES fade into oblivion, then how much more attractive is BYU as an Independent to ESPN? That's one way to keep ESPN in most major Western markets - especially SLC, Vegas, LA, Phoenix, and San Diego (and maybe Denver)
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CannonCougar85
See ESPN is too big and too powerful to just lay down and take all of this. They are going to fight to keep the WAC together. This is why UNLV, SDSU, Houston, Tulsa, SMU and UTEP are all definite possibilities to join the WAC. Heck even Boise is a possibility if ESPN plays their cards right.
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blue42
CannonCougar85 wrote:
The WAC should invite UNLV and SDSU first and foremost. Use the exit money from UNR and FSU as an enticement and promise that BYU will play them in football. San Diego and Las Vegas are 2 places that benefit tremendously by having BYU in town. The BYU game is the only game that either of those schools even come close to selling out.


Why would the WAC do this? aren't these the teams, along with New Mexico the same teams we were saying was the reason the MWC could not get an auto bid and now you want to take them out of the MWC and give the a better shot at an AQ conference? Because now you just got rid of the biggest hurdle for the MWC auto bid. Perhaps this was BYU's plan all along and the only way get the dead weight out of the conference.
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CannonCougar85
Mars wrote:
ESPN needs to add more teams to the WAC and they would be willing to pay more money to do so.

Disagree. ESPN won't put their money where their wishes are in this case, IMO. Why fight that hard and shell out millions to save SJSU-Idaho football games? Are they really going to compete with the PAC-12 that way? :skeptic:


You're leaving out how BYU would fit into the ESPN deal. BYU is a great replacement for BSU on ESPN.
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bplewe
While I'm down on the IndyWAC option at the moment, inviting UNLV, UNM, and SDSU actually improves it. Yes, the MWC ditches their FB dead weight, but the WAC picks up the best Basketball schools, which is all we care about. But basically we would be sorted into a good BB/lousy FB conference (WAC) and a good FB/lousy BB conference (MWC).



Taking the "who cares about football" approach, swap LA Tech for UTEP. UNM, NMSU, and UTEP will be pleased as punch to be together.



Not St. Mary's and Gonzaga, they're basketball, but don't fit well generally.



Yes, I know that everyone cares about football, and the WAC is unlikely to adopt this strategy (but BYU will want it to).



[btw, I can't believe we are having these kinds of discussions when Utah is in the PAC-X]
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