Big Sky and WAC Alliance

[SLCBengal]

Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman wrote an interesting column regarding the University of Idaho's continuing challenges with its football program and conference affiliation. There's also a mention that the Big Sky and WAC are talking again of moving some Big Sky teams to the WAC for all sports but football...

As for the Vandals’ other sports teams, (UI President) Nellis said the WAC has restarted talks with the Big Sky about an alliance that would involve some teams moving from the Big Sky to the WAC for non-football sports. WAC interim commissioner Jeff Hurd said last month that the talks had been shelved. But they are now back on.

“If the Big Sky-WAC alliance works, that’s a very good solution for all of our Olympic sports,” Nellis said.

The Big Sky currently has 11 all-sport members. The WAC has four, not including Boise State, which is trying to get into the Big West. The plan would be to create two eight-team leagues.

The biggest benefit for the schools would be maintaining two automatic bids into NCAA tournaments, including the men’s basketball tournament, and having a better shot at one of them.

“It’s a win-win for both the Big Sky and the WAC,” Nellis said.

Read more here: IdahoStatesman: Vandals Need a Conference Decision Soon

Something else I found intriguing from the comments section of the article -- a local TV station is asking for donations to carry UI games...

Read more: KTRV: Help Keep the Vandals on TV

 

[tuffgong]

Simply put, UofI is a joke.. What an embarrassment to our state.

 

[spudbowl]

I guess that I don't understand this. Why would the Big Sky want to allow some teams to go to the WAC in non-football sports? The WAC teams can join the Big Sky in non-football sports but why in the world would the Big Sky allow teams to go to a defunct WAC and why would these teams want to go?

 

[clawsout]

....i'm with you spudbowl....the only reason i can think of ..is so the WAC would stay around "on life support"...and that makes no sense...better it goes away than to be what it is currently...then out west you would have the Pac-10....the Mt West and The Big Sky....that's my thinking.....

 

[spazdog1]

It seems to be an odd alliance, but I would suppose that the alliance would give the Big Sky Conference some level of reassurance that there would be little reason for the WAC to attempt to raid the BSC for schools and their non-football sports. Like others, I believe that BSC is in the power position in such an alliance.

On a side note, it's getting down to crunch time for the Vandals. They need to find a FBS schedule for 2013 or with hats in hand, approach the Big Sky for membership. The only other option would be to eliminate football and I just don't think that will happen.

 

[sasquatch]

I can see some of the logic. If the WAC can't get up to auto-bid status, you basically have one NCAA auto-bid for about 17 schools in the west, including UVU and Bakersfield. It helps the strength of the west and those schools to maintain 2 auto-bids for the region.

College sports have become so cut-throat though. Everybody seems out to destroy each other and/or the conferences involved. I think to make this alliance work, you would need to mix and match. That is, take Idaho and Seattle, for example, and put them in the Big Sky. Then you can take some Big Sky programs, such as NAU and SUU, and put them in the WAC. You wouldn't want to make the Big Sky so shaky by putting a few in the WAC (and not getting anything in return), thus taking the risk that group could pull away and/or try to pilfer other members down the road.

I'm sure Doug Fullerton has it all figured out.

 

[PBP]

The talk I was hearing was that the WAC was trying to get Utah Valley, Cal Bakersfield, Texas Pan American and Dallas Baptist to join who they had left as a basketball only conference.

Where this potential alliance came from is beyond me.

I don't see the sense in it myself although I understand the "two bid" logic but that brings up the same questions that stopped a Mountain West - Sun Belt alliance...namely how the money is divided up, how much to each part of the alliance and so forth. That especially comes into play if one part of the alliance gets two teams into the NCAA, with the other getting one.

Plus who pays "penalty fees" for leaving one conference to join another even if mandated by this alliance?

I agree though that if this action is forced it would be better to completely realign geographically since one of the stated reasons for doing this is scheduling, travel expenses etc.

The "new" Big Sky could be Eastern Washington, Seattle, Portland State, Sacramento State, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana and Montana State for example.

The "new" WAC could be North Dakota, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Denver, Southern Utah, Weber State, New Mexico State and the one other current WAC school that I can't think of. (That's still a lot of travel though...)

PBP