What's new
AllBuffs | Unofficial fan site for the University of Colorado at Boulder Athletics programs

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Prime Time. Prime Time. Its a new era for Colorado football. Consider signing up for a club membership! For $20/year, you can get access to all the special features at Allbuffs, including club member only forums, dark mode, avatars and best of all no ads ! But seriously, please sign up so that we can pay the bills. No one earns money here, and we can use your $20 to keep this hellhole running. You can sign up for a club membership by navigating to your account in the upper right and clicking on "Account Upgrades". Make it happen!

TCU's Patterson: Be careful what you wish for BYU.

Wow, if that's true, Utah STate should fire their AD. He just screwed their school.

Oh, I have linky offical goodness now:

LOGAN, Utah - An open letter from Utah State Athletics Director Scott Barnes,

I know you have been closely following Wednesday's news that Nevada and Fresno State announced they are leaving the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) to join the Mountain West Conference (MWC). In a 12-hour period we have gone from looking forward to participating in an expanded WAC with a bright and prosperous future to one of some uncertainty.

Recently, Utah State, under President Stan Albrecht's strong leadership, played a major role in exploring the possibility of bringing BYU into the WAC. As of Tuesday, BYU was on the verge of joining the WAC in all sports but football.

As part of the WAC's conversations with BYU, the current eight conference members (excluding departing Boise State) agreed to remain together as a conference for at least five years. This stability was important to BYU, to other current members, and would have been critical as other expansion options were explored. WAC members signed a letter of commitment that included a $5M membership buyout. When the possibility of BYU leaving became known, MWC leadership contacted three WAC members inquiring about their interest in joining the MWC. Utah State was the first of these three contacts.

At the point in time when Utah State was contacted by the MWC we had a binding agreement with the WAC and were well positioned with nine members, which included BYU. We were simply committed to uphold our agreement with fellow WAC members. We respectfully declined MWC interest and believed all WAC members would remain committed to our agreement.

http://www.utahstateaggies.com/genrel/081910aab.html
 
Pardon me... but I am from Philadelphia... and I have no FING clue which teams are the Mountain West and which teams are in the Western Athletic Conferences.....

Junction said:
I feel the same way about the Colonial and the Atlantic 10...

I'm from New York and I don't know who's in any of these conferences . . . I also have trouble with the ACC and Big East.
 
Holy cow, sounds like USU got shafted. They kept heir word and Fresneck and UNR didn't seem so inclined. It's a cutthroat business...
 
Many points to comment on this thread:

1. Why the hell would Utah State even be in the discussion for the MWC? Honestly, I'd probably take any other WAC school besides USU. Perhaps it was a ploy to keep BYU.

2. Houston was referred to as the big prize for these mid-major conferences. I tend to agree, unless you can convince Memphis to join a conference that is much further west of them. Sure, these schools don't have the following of bigger BCS schools, but the MWC doesn't have great choices. So if you add in Houston's athletic history (Phi Slamma Jamma, Heisman Trophy winner), it is already ahead of most MWC schools.

3. Some east coast folks are mocking the MWC, but it is/was the next best conference behind the Big Six. If you add Boise, the MWC has been much more competitive than the Big East, and possibly even the ACC lately. It is the football equivalent of the A-10 in hoops.
 
I feel the same way about the Colonial and the Atlantic 10...

But those aren't I-A football conferences.

Many points to comment on this thread:

1. Why the hell would Utah State even be in the discussion for the MWC? Honestly, I'd probably take any other WAC school besides USU. Perhaps it was a ploy to keep BYU.

2. Houston was referred to as the big prize for these mid-major conferences. I tend to agree, unless you can convince Memphis to join a conference that is much further west of them. Sure, these schools don't have the following of bigger BCS schools, but the MWC doesn't have great choices. So if you add in Houston's athletic history (Phi Slamma Jamma, Heisman Trophy winner), it is already ahead of most MWC schools.

3. Some east coast folks are mocking the MWC, but it is/was the next best conference behind the Big Six. If you add Boise, the MWC has been much more competitive than the Big East, and possibly even the ACC lately. It is the football equivalent of the A-10 in hoops.

Agreed, not sure how USU got into the MWC discussion. Despite what Tompson says, it's clear the MWC was going after teams with the sole purpose of trying to kill counter-punch BYU's potential move out of the conference.
 
utah state has a big basketball program... theyve been ranked at some point during the past 2 seasons
 
Wow, if that's true, Utah STate should fire their AD. He just screwed their school.
I disagree. He was the only one in the whole mess who had an ounce of decency - respecting the pledge he had made to remain in the WAC. Now, his school took it in the chortz because of it, but I don't think the blame should be placed on him. Instead, look to the scumbag ADs at Fresno and Nevada who reneged on their unity pledge literally days after they made it. They'll probably give you the "in the best interests of our school" speech - and it may very well be true. But to bolt immediately after agreeing not to is so under the table it's not funny. I hope to hell that the WAC extracts the $5M from each of them regardless of what else happens.
 
I disagree. He was the only one in the whole mess who had an ounce of decency - respecting the pledge he had made to remain in the WAC. Now, his school took it in the chortz because of it, but I don't think the blame should be placed on him. Instead, look to the scumbag ADs at Fresno and Nevada who reneged on their unity pledge literally days after they made it. They'll probably give you the "in the best interests of our school" speech - and it may very well be true. But to bolt immediately after agreeing not to is so under the table it's not funny. I hope to hell that the WAC extracts the $5M from each of them regardless of what else happens.

so its okay for BYU to leave the Mountain West high and dry to improve their money situation, but bad for Nevada and Fresno to get in a conference that is better for themselves. That makes no sense. Under Benson the WAC has lost 14 of the 16 teams they had in 1998 to other conferences. That's all you need to know about the WAC's standing in college athletics. Good for Fresno and Nevada to get out of that sinking ship. Utah State is in deep **** for staying with some jackass like Karl Benson. They should have taken the invitation when it was offered.


The city of Houston doesn't support Houston athletics. Its an aggy and UT town. I think adding Houston isn't worth a lot unless it can get the MTN channel on cable systems in the Houston area.
 
How about a MWC/CUSA title game for a BCS auto bid? Things are getting crazy!

mwc-c-usa-talking-about-merged.html
mwc-c-usa-talking-about-merged.html
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/08/19/2414774/mwc-c-usa-talking-about-merged.html
mwc-c-usa-talking-about-merged.html
 
Pardon me... but I am from Philadelphia... and I have no FING clue which teams are the Mountain West and which teams are in the Western Athletic Conferences.....

****, I live in Denver and had to look it up for half of them.
 
so its okay for BYU to leave the Mountain West high and dry to improve their money situation, but bad for Nevada and Fresno to get in a conference that is better for themselves. That makes no sense. Under Benson the WAC has lost 14 of the 16 teams they had in 1998 to other conferences. That's all you need to know about the WAC's standing in college athletics. Good for Fresno and Nevada to get out of that sinking ship. Utah State is in deep **** for staying with some jackass like Karl Benson. They should have taken the invitation when it was offered.
My point had nothing to do with BYU, or defending the WAC. My point was that those two schools - literally days before - pledged their allegiance to the WAC, then turned around and bolted, leaving the other teams swinging in the breeze. If it would have happened under different circumstances - like Boise did - I wouldn't have a problem with them looking out for their programs. I just think that they are both sleezebags for doing it the way they did.
 
utah state has a big basketball program... theyve been ranked at some point during the past 2 seasons

i don't know if they've been ranked, but they almost beat Duke a few years ago....and are not the 14 seed you want to see. Stew Morrill is for real. creepy glasses and all.
 
My point had nothing to do with BYU, or defending the WAC. My point was that those two schools - literally days before - pledged their allegiance to the WAC, then turned around and bolted, leaving the other teams swinging in the breeze. If it would have happened under different circumstances - like Boise did - I wouldn't have a problem with them looking out for their programs. I just think that they are both sleezebags for doing it the way they did.

I disagree. They didn't pledge "not to leave" the WAC. They pledged that they would agree to pay $5 million to the WAC if/when they left. Nothing else matters.

They decided to leave and will probably fork over the cash. That is the only thing that was promised and the only thing that should be expected.

Nobody should expect any entity/school/etc to give a 100% binding agreement to anything. Things change, circumstances change, new opportunities arise, etc.

They basically said that the other schools deserved a payoff if/when any school left the conference. Thats all, stop with the loyalty/word is bond line of thinking, it isn't that situation.
 
I disagree. They didn't pledge "not to leave" the WAC. They pledged that they would agree to pay $5 million to the WAC if/when they left. Nothing else matters.

They decided to leave and will probably fork over the cash. That is the only thing that was promised and the only thing that should be expected.

Nobody should expect any entity/school/etc to give a 100% binding agreement to anything. Things change, circumstances change, new opportunities arise, etc.

They basically said that the other schools deserved a payoff if/when any school left the conference. Thats all, stop with the loyalty/word is bond line of thinking, it isn't that situation.

That is a good point. However, I think that $5 Million dollar payout is in huge jeapordy if Utah State is added to the MWC and Hawaii goes the independent route. If that happens you can basically put a fork in the WAC.
 
That is a good point. However, I think that $5 Million dollar payout is in huge jeapordy if Utah State is added to the MWC and Hawaii goes the independent route. If that happens you can basically put a fork in the WAC.

Hawaii independent? Are you out of your mind? There is a very, very short list of schools that could get away with going independent. Hawaii is not anywhere on that list. I'm not even sure BYU is on the list. The travel cost alone would kill Hawaii. They'd just drop athletics completely before going independent.
 
Hawaii independent? Are you out of your mind? There is a very, very short list of schools that could get away with going independent. Hawaii is not anywhere on that list. I'm not even sure BYU is on the list. The travel cost alone would kill Hawaii. They'd just drop athletics completely before going independent.

That's what I would think too but apparently they could make it work:

Another reason the move to independent status in football makes sense for Hawaii: The program could schedule enough guarantee games—road games against BCS heavyweights with significant payouts from $750,000 to $1 million-plus—on ESPN to make it work.

Hawaii also has the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl as a likely guaranteed postseason destination should it qualify for the postseason. Currently the bowl selects the Conference USA No. 2 team, and the WAC’s No. 3 or Hawaii. With the WAC now at six teams, ESPN, which owns the Hawaii Bowl, will revisit its television deal with the conference, and that likely would give Hawaii more negotiating strength, the source said.

Hawaii also believes it can schedule long-term home-and-home series with current WAC and Mountain West teams. BYU and Hawaii are in the final phases of completing a 10-year contract, and adding Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada are all strong possibilities.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=tsn-166084
 
Hawaii independent? Are you out of your mind? There is a very, very short list of schools that could get away with going independent. Hawaii is not anywhere on that list. I'm not even sure BYU is on the list. The travel cost alone would kill Hawaii. They'd just drop athletics completely before going independent.

I think going independent is going to be a very tough route for any school to make work, even Notre Dame is getting pressure to join a conference eventually. As college football moves toward more superconferences of 12-16 teams each the scheduling issue is going to get tighter as teams play more conference games meaning fewer OOC opportunities to fill with independents.

That all said, I actually think that Hawaii has a better shot at making it work than BYU does. As winning conference games gets more important teams are going to be looking for interesting OOC games that offer advanages in recruiting and at the same time have lower risk of damaging the record. BYU is a bad match in this regard. They are good enough to beat most teams on a given day, thus teams want to avoid them, especially if it means a home and home because playing in Provo does nothing for recruiting and has a decent chance in ending in a loss.

Hawaii on the other hand offers some advantages, they are good enough to be recognized as a legit D-1 program but outside of the June Jones years have not been a real threat to beat people on any consistent basis. Hawaii is also a decent recruiting ground and unlike Provo, good players are likely to leave the state. A huge advantage of Hawaii in terms of recruiting is the ability to tell prospective recruits that if they commit, a trip to Hawaii is on the schedule. Now this is only one weekend out of a 4-5 year college career but to some HS kids it is a the kind of thing that gets their interest, especially if the school in question is not exactly in a garden spot.
 
I think going independent is going to be a very tough route for any school to make work, even Notre Dame is getting pressure to join a conference eventually. As college football moves toward more superconferences of 12-16 teams each the scheduling issue is going to get tighter as teams play more conference games meaning fewer OOC opportunities to fill with independents.

That all said, I actually think that Hawaii has a better shot at making it work than BYU does. As winning conference games gets more important teams are going to be looking for interesting OOC games that offer advanages in recruiting and at the same time have lower risk of damaging the record. BYU is a bad match in this regard. They are good enough to beat most teams on a given day, thus teams want to avoid them, especially if it means a home and home because playing in Provo does nothing for recruiting and has a decent chance in ending in a loss.

Hawaii on the other hand offers some advantages, they are good enough to be recognized as a legit D-1 program but outside of the June Jones years have not been a real threat to beat people on any consistent basis. Hawaii is also a decent recruiting ground and unlike Provo, good players are likely to leave the state. A huge advantage of Hawaii in terms of recruiting is the ability to tell prospective recruits that if they commit, a trip to Hawaii is on the schedule. Now this is only one weekend out of a 4-5 year college career but to some HS kids it is a the kind of thing that gets their interest, especially if the school in question is not exactly in a garden spot.
Plus, schools that play AT Hawaii get to play an extra game ... could be incentive to schedule home-and-homes with them.
 
Colonial:

Delaware
Drexel
George Mason
Georgia State
Hofstra
JMU
Old Dominion
UNC- Wilmington
Northeastern
Towson
VCU
William & Mary


Atlantic 10

Charlotte
Dayton
Duquesne
Fordham
GW
Lasalle
Massachusetts
URI
Richmond
St. Bonaventure
St. Josephs
Saint Louis
Temple
Xavier

These are not even football conferences..... surely you must be joking..... I am from the east and had no clue that all of these teams were in those conferences....

I could list all of the MWC and WAC together and might get 1/2 correct on which team is in what particular conference....
 
Last edited:
Back
Top