The commissioner of the hanging-by-a-thread Western Athletic Conference held a press conference this afternoon and, suffice to say, was not the least bit pleased with the turn of events over the past 48 hours.
Addressing the decision of Fresno State and Nevada to leave the WAC for the Mountain West Conference, commissioner Karl Benson labeled their actions “selfish” and said that the two schools had “betrayed” the conference.
Benson’s sense of betrayal stemmed from an agreement reached amongst the then eight-school conference a week ago. Last Friday, all of the schools verbally agreed to a $5 million penalty if they left the conference — seven of the eight signed a document, with Nevada being the lone exception; the WAC will still pursue payment — a move that was an attempt to keep the MWC from pilfering the league once BYU came onboard for non-football sports.
That attempt failed miserably as word leaked that BYU was bolting the Mountain West, and that conference made a preemptive strike that began Tuesday morning and ended Wednesday evening with Fresno State and Nevada accepting MWC invitations.
The sense of betrayal, while somewhat understandable, is also a bit misguided and self-serving as Benson and the WAC had been in discussions with BYU since early July about joining the conference in non-football sports if the Cougars decided to become a football independent. Add in the fact that the suggestion of a $5 million penalty came in part from BYU, and any feelings of being “torpedoed” are ludicrous, ridiculous and borderline insane.
Regardless, whether BYU sticks to that month-in-the-making plan remains to be seen; Benson, however, did not sound overly optimistic that BYU would forge ahead and jump to his suddenly-depleted conference.
“It’s open from our end,” Benson said. “At this point, I have no idea what they’re going to do. I would hope that the WAC is still an option for BYU and that no door has been closed. …
“We hope that there is still an opportunity to structure an arrangement that would allow BYU to be part of the WAC in some shape or form.”
As far as the conference’s future, Benson indicated that, with or without BYU, the league would survive. The plan to salvage the WAC has seemingly already commenced, with Benson mentioned Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, UC-Davis, Sacramento State and Cal Poly as possibilities to replace the three departing schools.
Finally, and speaking of the departing schools, Boise State was not affected by this latest round of upheaval and will still join the Mountain West at the end of the 2010-2011 school year. Benson said that the league will attempt to force Fresno State and Nevada to remain through the 2012 school year as they missed the conference’s July 1 deadline for leaving.
If Benson can hold Fresno State and Nevada in the league through the 2011 football season, it would give the conference additional time to find schools to add to get at or above the NCAA-mandated eight teams for football.
While Benson put on a brave, defiant face, his conference is still in dire straits and, even with the additions of some of the schools mentioned, they simply cannot replace the quality of what they lost to the MWC. The WAC suffered immeasurable damage the past two days, and it will likely take a series of miracles — or one big one — to regain any of the immense luster lost this offseason.
To bad Utah didn’t know these moves were coming before they moved. I could argue a conference with Utah, Fresno St, TCU, Boise St, Air Force, BYU….is as strong if not stronger than the Big East. They WILL become a BCS conference. They have to. I kind of wish they would have stayed.
What a hypocritical sack of crap this guy is… He tried to steal BYU from the Mountain West and gets pissed that they hit back by poaching two of the remaining viable teams from the conference.
Did he think that everyone was going to hold the line when the chance at jumping to a more viable conference was dangled in front of them?
BYU’s probably burned the bridge with the MWC. I’m frankly a little surprised that the Pac-10 didn’t take them, considering the academic quality, athletic power, and large fanbase that BYU could’ve brought to the conference.
One way or the other, I think the WAC has little choice but to pilfer the Sun Belt or CUSA or possibly even merge into a mid-major superconference with one of them.
burntorangehorn,
The rumor during the Pac Ten’s search was that BYU was not considered seriously because at least one school, believed to be Cal-Berkeley, refused to vote for them and you need a unanimous vote to accept a new member there.
raiderUfan:
Stronger than the Big East. Yes. And probably stronger than the ACC too. Too bad it didn’t go down like that.
“mid-major superconference”
that’s quite an oxymoron, burntorangehorn.
burntorangehorn and teke:
Cal also was one of the driving forces in making sure Baylor wouldn’t have been int he PAC-16 if it had happened.
The other strike against BYU is the no playing on Sunday rule they have.
to raiderUFan:
You obviously know nothing about college football. With the new teams, the MWC may be getting an equal footing with the BCS conferences, but better than the Big East and the Atlantic Coast Conference. What wacky weed have you be somoking. Before you post a statement like that, learn the college game and landscape.
If the WAC thinks they’re going to get UC-Davis, Sac State, or Cal Poly they’re insane. All three of those schools play football at the 1-AA level. None of them are remotely ready for 1-A football. They’re all public schools in cash-strapped California. None of them could afford regular trips to Hawaii and Louisiana without big-time football TV money, which they can’t get.
floyd3049 says:
to raiderUFan:
You obviously know nothing about college football.
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You must have went into his message with a closed mind because that’s NOT what he said. He said that with Utah, BYU, TCU, Air Force, Fresno State and Boise State, the conference would have been better than the Big East and the ACC and it would be close but I believe that he’d have a point.
Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and West Virginia were in the BCS top 25 for the Big East while Georgia Tech, Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech were there for the ACC.
Meanwhile, Boise State represented the WAC while BYU, TCU and Utah represented the MWC. Air Force was 8-5 and so was Fresno State. The MWC had some bad teams but so did the others. At the top of the conferences, the MWC would be better than the other two but overall, it would be pretty equal. Let’s not forget that the Big East doesn’t have 12 teams like the ACC or what the MWC might have soon so it’s easier to say that it’s a stronger conference than it really is.
The WAC is as good as dead as a Football conference. Any of the 1AA schools mentioned are no where near ready to move up. With the California schools its a money problem. The Texas 1AA’s are either too small -Texas St. 15k seat stadium or in the case of UTSA haven’t even played a game yet.
Would any of the C-USA West teams improve their standing by joining up with a 6 team WAC that includes Hawaii, Idaho, LaTech, NMState, San Jose St., and Utah St. ?
I’m looking at The Big X to grab teams from C-USA to keep the Conference Title game and get back to XII.
Wow, get sick for a few days and look what happens. More aftershocks to the CFB earthquake!
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RedLeg15 says:
I’m looking at The Big X to grab teams from C-USA to keep the Conference Title game and get back to XII.
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Texas needs more cupcakes to stay dominant.
But in all seriousness, LA Tech and SJSU actually make some sense for the Big TX.