MWC's Next Move?

[Lobo65]

Predictions?

Mine:
Houston + UTEP
Sunday Championship
New TV contract
Buyout clause

Analysis in 10-years: huge mistake by BYU

[Mark]

Took the words right out of my mouth. 100

[LoboLuba]

They wont do anything till next summer. No point now.

[Garishwolf]

Even steven,LAIR Brother..........

[Louiefan]

Predictions?

Mine:
Houston + UTEP
Sunday Championship
New TV contract
Buyout clause

Analysis in 10-years: huge mistake by BYU

Dominos begin to fall:
Hawaii=Football independent, Big West remaining Sports
La Tech=Conference USA
USA=holding self rocking in the corner
Uhhh...other WAC teams....hello....hello...anyone there?

[pitboss]

NMSU to Sun Belt

Cheers,
Pitboss

[Louiefan]

NMSU to Sun Belt

Cheers,
Pitboss

No way they could afford the travel to SunBelt schools if they are already supplementing their athletics with $4M from Academics. They better hope like heck than Hawaii stays, or the WAC is bust.

[RENOLOBO]

As much as I hate our little brothers from down south, I feel for them.....their conference is on life support right now!!!

[burquesid]

Dominos begin to fall:
Hawaii=Football independent, Big West remaining Sports
La Tech=Conference USA
USA=holding self rocking in the corner
Uhhh...other WAC teams....hello....hello...anyone there?

The Wac will be fine. They'll still have the Utags, the Aggies, Idaho, and almost forgot SJSU. Look out Pac-12.

[LouisT]

didnt they try this before? would the sunbelt even want them back?

NMSU to Sun Belt

Cheers,
Pitboss

[Gonzlobo]

New logo: Change from the Wasach mountain to the Sandias. Change from pruple to red. Also, they will no longer show the map of the western states since we're no longer contiguous.

[mdperovich]

Personally, I hope that the two new additions (assuming there are 2 more) are Houston and Tulsa. Houston is obvious why, but Tulsa is much better that UTEP for the conference IMO. They have decent football and basketball, plus a better market potential in terms of TV revenue. Opening up the Oklahoma market even if it is still third to OSU and U of Ok. is a good step forward vs. just adding in El Paso.

I enjoyed the rivalry with UTEP back in the day as much as anyone, but I think Tulsa really brings more to the conference at this point than UTEP.

[red wolf rob]

I hope we stay at 10 for now. leave some open slots for future big 12 teams, if they ever implode. we are still the #1 non aq conference.

[BoRealist]

Add Houston and UTEP NOW!!! Especially since Houston might have a good Football season this year. Pick up their points.

UTEP is good for rivalry purposes with UNM (We just lost in my opinion two of our biggest and oldest rivals). Plus another Texas school for TCU and Houston to travel with. Mostly selfish reasons though.

Tulsa would be ok. Small school but decent football and b-ball. Close to UH and TCU.

Invite whomever will encourage Houston to join and keep TCU happy.

[Ltlf]

Add Houston and UTEP NOW!!! Especially since Houston might have a good Football season this year. Pick up their points.

UTEP is good for rivalry purposes with UNM (We just lost in my opinion two of our biggest and oldest rivals). Plus another Texas school for TCU and Houston to travel with. Mostly selfish reasons though.

Tulsa would be ok. Small school but decent football and b-ball. Close to UH and TCU.

Invite whomever will encourage Houston to join and keep TCU happy.

I'm with you Bo. I expected to have already heard about the invite to these schools. Get 'er done.

[UNM Class of 1972]

Let's face it, the MWC is running out of quality schools it can add to the conference. What non BCS D-1 schools are left and then would the ones we want be interested in joining the MWC? Let's look at the teams left west (or close to west) of the Mississippi:

First, let's eliminate the riff raff:
Sun Belt:
Arkansas State
La.-Lafayette
La. Monroe
North Texas
WAC:
Idaho La. Tech
NMSU
San Jose State
Utah State

So what is left is one WAC school and the somewhat western CUSA schools. Here is the list of BCS wannabes and leftovers:

1. Houston- the most logical place to expand but they are probably not interested at least for the moment.
2. Memphis -across the river but a large TV market. People here actually cheer for Memphis first then Tennessee.
3. UTEP-our little cousins near the border look better all the time but still not that attractive.
4. Tulane- on the river. A large media market similar in size to Albuquerque's.
5. Hawaii- distance is a bigger problem here than to add Memphis or Tulane. But they are leftover with a large TV market.
6. Tulsa- large TV market but one of the smallest colleges in the country.
7.SMU- Is in Dallas but does not command much of the TV market.
8.Rice- Same as SMU except in Houston.

So, I doubt if it would be in our best interst to expand right now unless somehow we could get Houston along with Memphis or even UTEP. It is to the MWC's advantage and especially UNM's to wait. Perhaps a merger can occur of some sorts or perhaps UNM's football program will have improved enough in the next two years that we will get serious attention from the Big 12 or PAC-12.

[Ltlf]

I know not of which I speak so.......

I could spend a few hours researching the web OR
I could ask my dumb question on the Lair.

Is there no future for San Jose State as an athletic school?
I know nothing of their basketball history, but I know they played and beat the Lobos in football fairly recently.
I know that San Jose is in the market with Stanford, but that there are lots of people in the Bay Area. Lots of people MIGHT mean lots of TV eyeballs.

It's just my nature to question the "established " views. Mostly I do that to learn. Any teachers?

[lbc7]

Blackball Utah and BYU, and the MTN tv station should blackball Utah and BYU as well, don't show any non-conference games for Utah and BYU.

[LoboCubs23]

THE MWC needs to demand that CBS take BYU off that national game on CBS, and that they also dont show any non conference games for them, and get rid of the BYU homers on the MTN this season and talk up the teams that are not BYU. Utah is understandable, and UNM would do it in three seconds if it were offered, but BYU is doing this because they think they are better then everyone else, and not only that they did it with back door deals and shaddy acts.

[UNM Class of 1972]

New logo: Change from the Wasach mountain to the Sandias. Change from pruple to red. Also, they will no longer show the map of the western states since we're no longer contiguous.

According to my geography, California is contiguous to Nevada which is contiguous to Idaho which is contiguous to Wyoming, Wyoming to Colorado, Colorado to New Mexico, and New Mexico to Texas.

[LoboDogg]

Something thats hard for us Lobo fans to realize is that its still about football.

This is based on CFN ranmkings of all D1 and D1A college football
program rankings for the past 5 years. I averaged CFN's ranking for the
teams in the MWC based on the crtieria below. Lower is better. I
posted some of this a week or two ago but this isupdated fopr the loss
of BYU.

MWC with BYU/FSU/Nev/BSU or how we were as of yeaterday: 63.73
MWC with BSU/FSU/Nev (without BYU): 67.9

So we are significantly worse as a FB conference without BYU.

If we add Houston tothe mix the average program ranking goes down to
66. Could be a good move.

But here's a couple other things to consider.

1. What's the likellihood TCU would stay without BYU if we had not
added BSU, FSU and NEV? I think less.
2. What does not having BYU for BB but adding NEV and FSU do? I
think it makes us a better BB league.

All in all, we'll be fine. But we need to add team to replace BYU. HOU
is a good candidate and then maybe we go after SMU.

Also, don';t forget that the WAC is dead. That reduces the competition
among mid-majors for BCS space. If we can futhere weaken C-USA by
getting HOU and SMU we are bettter off.

[Kent]

No matter what the MWC does, UNM neededs to work out an alliance with TCU. At this point TCU is key to the MWC and the hopes for BCS AQ statis. I have a gut feeling TCU may be the next to leave.

[BoRealist]

Everyone take a breath before you read this: The Mountain West will not get AQ BCS status and are not close to getting it with BYU and UTAH gone. We need to stop thinking in those terms.

1.) The MWC needs to weaken the other non-bcs conferences by taking their best schools in football: Done with WAC; the MWC took BSU, Fresno & Nevada. Next CUSA: Really just need Houston for this goal but Tulsa, SMU and UTEP will be fine additions too.

After Establishing and protecting "Best Non-BCS" Conference Title (yay for that .......)
2.a) The conference needs to think about adding schools that help revenue production.
For UNM & maybe TCU/Houston adding a school like UTEP is a big boost. UTEP travels well to games in ABQ and the rivalry always brings more Lobo fans to the game. I'd bet they might travel well to Dallas or Houston?? Not to mention three Texas schools playing in one football division, they'd travel well the other way also.
2.b) Same idea, revenue generation. Adding Houston or another Dallas school (SMU) is big for television contract markets. We need another big market even if it's just a portion of it.\
2.c) Add a conference Championship game in Football. Another chance for the winner of MWC to be on display for the BCS bowls on television and generate some tv revenue for conference in general.

Don't worry as much about the current numbers anymore (maybe down the road a few years). It's more important to build a sustainable and strong overall conference that can keep and protect members.

[judas_priest]

Some observations:

The chances of our getting AQ status by the end of the next football season, which would have been quite good with BYU, FSU and BSU, are now not quite non-existent, but close. TCU and BSU would have to maintain their currrent lofty standing for another year, and every other MWC team would have to improve and, in the case of UNM, SDSU, UNLV, and CSU,improve substantially. I'm hoping, but not holding my breath.

Would adding the two best football schools potentially available, SMU and Houston, help? No, because the earliest now that we could take them in (barring some unforeseen circumstances) wouldbe for 2012-213, which is the year after the determination is made.

Yes, SMU has been a weak sister in the Dallas media market, but that is at least partially due to the ineptitude on the football field they had shown until very recently. That's changing, and Houston's resurgence isn't that much older.

[Gonzlobo]

According to my geography, California is contiguous to Nevada which is contiguous to Idaho which is contiguous to Wyoming, Wyoming to Colorado, Colorado to New Mexico, and New Mexico to Texas.

You are correct. I completely forgot about The Idaho joining the west and east.