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Sac to the WAC?????

SDHornet said:
SloStang said:
Also do not count Cal Poly out of the WAC talk.
What's the consensus on the CP boards about a possible move to the WAC? Are there many people for it, or is it mostly people afraid of change? :?:
Not a lot of talk on the boards, but I know there is interest where it counts. I love the FCS, but Cal Poly is in a tough spot in the Great West and I would love to see Fresno State and San Jose State roll into SLO every other year.
 
Green Cookie Monster said:
Siouxfan-were you at UND when Wanless was there? He is a very good AD and person.

I would think that Arco would be used if Santa Claus came early. There is a new arena on the books for 6-8,000 seats that was approved by students. Not sure when that will start though.

We gotta look at the future, say a decade from now. This economic mess will be straightened out and any expense now to join the WAC will be long forgotten. Plus, Wanlesses' nephew just won the Powerball and is a multi,multi millionaire. Who knows, Wanless Field?

Didn't know Wanless, but he made some changes that really helped UND move forward athletically - especially with finances and with student academics. What hurt him apparently was he didn't party and socialize like the previous AD did - some of the bigger boosters think that the AD should be their best friend. Wanless's nephew winning that powerball was big news, but kind of think he's buying up a county of ranchland in south central SD.

As far as UND football, at receiver corps we lost our by far our top receiver, Bamba, to grades. Until college, he hadn't been to an English-speaking school (his family are African immigrants to Quebec), so the transition was really difficult for him. We do however return a stud running back that last year was academically ineligible: we should be loaded in the backfield. We've actually been recruiting a number of California kids - Bay Area and Sacramento - that are looked at as having great potential.


With the latest news on the Pac10 maybe taking 6 of the Big12, that may change the whole dynamics of the domino effect. The MWC people seem awfully confident that it will be a survivor - but not so sure now. The remants of the Big12 could pull in the eastern MWC, and the western MWC would return into the arms of the WAC. If that happened, all the FCS schools may stay as is.

Overall, I just believe that Sac State has to go FBS in order to receive the media and student attention that is needed to energize the Sacramento community around Hornet athletics. It seems Sacramento is looking for something - the Kings don't do it anymore - to get them excited . It's also important that Sac State goes FBS before UC-Davis - UC-Davis athletics would do O.K. even if Sac State went FBS. Not so sure though about the reverse situation.
 
aggiemba said:
Davis will be going WAC. Mark my words. I suspect Cal Poly will be going also. Sorry Sac.

:lol:

Does it take an MBA to "forget" that Sac State is already a proud member of the WAC?
 
aggiemba said:
Davis will be going WAC. Mark my words. I suspect Cal Poly will be going also. Sorry Sac.


Hmmmm...let see. I'm the WAC commissioner. Do I want a team in Sacramento, San Luis Obispo or Davis? Gee, you don't even need a UC Davis degree to figure that out.
 
Here is the article:


Sacramento State views WAC as good fit

Posted: Saturday, June 5, 2010 11:30 pm | Updated: 11:31 pm, Sat Jun 5, 2010.

By WILL C. HOLDEN, Chronicle Sports Writer | 0 comments

Sacramento State is no Big Sky Conference power. Terry Wanless, the school's athletic director, is the first to admit it.

But it's for that very reason that he believes that the idea of Sacramento State moving to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) at this juncture might help his athletic program experience a level of success it has not yet attained in the Big Sky.

"We haven't had the historic success other Big Sky schools have had," Wanless said. "We're still climbing the ladder. The WAC makes that ladder a little taller, but it also makes it more exciting."

Idaho athletic director Rob Spear, whose program made a similar jump to the FBS in 1996, agreed with that sentiment.

"If you make the jump, you can say, ‘We're playing in this league, we need to do everything we can to ease the transition,'" he said. "Sometimes you can get your donors behind that."

The Hornets would have a fair amount of facility improvements to make, but the program has already begun the process, having just finished a new football facility two years ago.

"It houses our football coaching staff, our football team and our track and field team," Wanless said. "It also has a new weight room, a new equipment room and a new sports medicine room. So that part of the transition is complete"

One part of the transition that is still in works is a complete reconstruction the Hornets football stadium and basketball arena. But at the very least, Wanless said, Hornet Stadium's current capacity of 22,000 is comparable to teams in a conference like the WAC.

And Wanless believes the stadium could move closer to selling out consistently if the Hornets started playing regional opponents like Fresno State, San Jose State and Nevada - all of which are members of the WAC and are located in a reasonable driving distance of the Sacramento State campus - instead of opponents like Eastern Washington, Weber State and Northern Arizona - all of which are a flight and a bus ride away.

"Not only could we create excitement amongst our fans about matchups like the Fresnos the San Joses and the Nevadas, but fans of those schools would also be able to drive in and attend those contests," Wanless said. "That could possibly give us a huge return investment on that decision (to move up)."

But what would that decision cost? Wanless said that Sacrmaneto State is currently operating on a $15 million annual budget, which is approximately $2 million more than the budgets at Montana State and Montana, according to MSU athletic director Peter fields and UM athletic director Jim O'Day.

Wanless believes a move to the WAC would require that Sacramento State add $5 million to its annual operating budget. When asked if he thought his school could support such a budget increase, he answered simply.

"I think we could," he said. "I'm very comfortable in thinking that we could make that happen."

Will Holden can be reached at [email protected] and 582-2690.
 
My only concern in the whole scenario is why did it take the Bozeman Montana newspaper to write a story like this? Where is our beloved investigative reporting Sacramento Bee?

I don't know what it will take to get the Bee behind this scenario. Like it or not media coverage is crucial to success.

Thanks HHD for posting that.
 
Hammerhead Dad said:
aggiemba said:
Davis will be going WAC. Mark my words. I suspect Cal Poly will be going also. Sorry Sac.


Hmmmm...let see. I'm the WAC commissioner. Do I want a team in Sacramento, San Luis Obispo or Davis? Gee, you don't even need a UC Davis degree to figure that out.
Problem there is Davis is also in the Sacramento market so then it comes down to which school do you want. Both have their +'s and -'s. Cal Poly does not have the market Sac and Davis do, but they have other things they do not. I would like to see all three in up in the WAC.
 
Looks like Cal Poly also has interest in the WAC.


Opportunity may come knocking for Cal Poly football
If Western Athletic Conference realigns, Cal Poly could have chance to move to FBS
By Joshua D. Scroggin | [email protected]

With speculation pointing toward a shift in college conference alignment — and news expected to come as early as Monday — Cal Poly could be facing its best, and perhaps only, chance of moving to the highest level of college football this summer.

There are questions whether the university could afford to make the jump from the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision, both monetarily and competitively.

At the very least, making the commitment to move would eventually require completion of a multi-million dollar stadium expansion and 22 additional football scholarships, all while the state struggles to crawl out of a crippling economic recession.

But if the school cannot capitalize on the trickle-down effect of what could be a monumental shift — both the Big Ten and the Pac-10 are rumored to be seeking the formation of super conferences — there’s no telling how long Cal Poly could be on the outside looking in, stuck in a football subdivision with a limited number of West Coast opponents.

“The window’s going to open; the window’s going to close,” Cal Poly head football coach Tim Walsh said. “You better be ready to answer the question.

“We better be ready to say ‘yes,’ or ‘no.’ We need to be ready to make a decision. I think it’s what we need to do for football.”

Though Cal Poly is nowhere near the front of the line of dominoes that could fall in many different directions all over the country, it’s foreseeable that the Mustangs, along with Great West Football Conference rival UC Davis, could end up with an invitation to join the Western Athletic Conference, which is home to CSU programs in Fresno and San Jose.

Recent reports speculate that when conference meetings start this week, current WAC member Boise State will receive an invitation to join the Mountain West Conference, a league of nine schools initially formed when it split from the WAC in 1999.

Louisiana Tech, by far the eastern-most school in the WAC, has also been rumored to depart since it was left on an island when Rice, Southern Methodist and Tulsa bolted for Conference USA in 2005.

For the past five years, the WAC has been enjoying its longest stint of membership stability since 1992, but when it did add teams in the past, they’ve mostly shared one big similarity with Cal Poly.

Eight of the nine current WAC teams each at one time played football in the Big West Conference, which the Mustangs joined in 1996.

Gearing up for WAC meetings starting this week, conference commissioner Karl Benson was unavailable for comment but has identified a list of potential invitees within the past month, including: Cal Poly, Montana, Portland State, Sacramento State, Texas State and UC Davis.

An Idaho Statesman report this past week stated Boise State would be able to accept an invite to the Mountain West on the spot since the Broncos got clearance from the Idaho State Board of Education to do just that when they first hoped to get the call in 2003.

The Mustangs, on the other hand, would need some time to weigh their options, Cal Poly athletic director Alison Cone said. Though she may head the athletic department, in the end, the decision wouldn’t rest with her office. More likely, it would come from the CSU chancellor and Cal Poly president, an office in the midst of some unrest. Warren Baker announced his retirement to follow the current academic year, but the university announced last week that after hosting three finalists, the search for a new president would be reopened.

“Number one, we would need an invitation, which we don’t have,” Cone said. “Then, it’s a period of evaluation, and you don’t know, until details of the invitations are extended, whether we would choose to act. Typically those are types of decisions that the university would go through.”

The earliest Cal Poly could start a mandatory two-year transition into the FBS would be in 2011, when an NCAA moratorium on subdivision change is scheduled to expire. During the two transitional seasons, the Mustangs would not be eligible for the postseason in either subdivision and could not be part of a conference.

With July 1 being a looming deadline for the 2011 intentions of many, the time to mull over any offers could be limited.

For Walsh, who is preparing to begin his second season at the helm with Cal Poly, it’s clear something has to happen soon. He fears the five-team Great West Football Conference might not be around in the near future. Even if it is, the travel won’t be getting any easier with trips to mostly out-of-the-way destinations.

Without a major airport, San Luis Obispo is not an easy place to get in and out of, and neither are three of the other members’ cities — Grand Forks, N.D., Vermillion, S.D., and Cedar City, Utah.

“We have to take advantage of whatever opportunity is created for us, and I think the opportunity to be in the WAC is a legitimate one,” Walsh said. “I think it’s the right fit. It’s good for us. It puts us in the western region of the United States, which is nice, and it fits us with some good natural rivalries.”

Cal Poly football alumni have also been pining for an upgrade.

A booster group led by former players made that their overriding theme at a barbecue following the Mustangs’ spring game in April.

And contacted by The Tribune after his retirement from broadcasting last summer, former Cal Poly player and NFL Hall of Famer John Madden expressed a desire to see the Mustangs back playing old rivals like Fresno State and San Jose State.

As Cone grapples with scheduling home games in a subdivision where 90 percent of the schools are located east of the Rocky Mountains, many of the visitors to Alex G. Spanos Stadium have been relative unknowns.

“With any potential athletic alignment, one of our big goals with football is let’s play people that excite our students,” Cone said, “who are more like us, who our alumni have heard of.

“If you want to make a change in conferences, whether it’s to the WAC or somewhere else, you have to make sure you’re putting your university in a good position to have success, and you want your alumni to be proud about what we’re doing.”

Walsh said he’s receiving questions from recruits on the future of Cal Poly football and its conference alignment. They ask about the WAC, the FBS and where the Mustangs might be in the four of five years they’d be at the school.

For now, those are questions Walsh can’t answer.

The answers may come soon, and they likely won’t be easily arrived at. But if they’re the answers Walsh is hoping for, one thing is for sure: Solidarity must be achieved.

“If we do it, our athletic department, our community, our university needs to say, ‘We’re in,’ ” Walsh said. “Not just football, a lot of people in the community need to realize, ‘OK, this is what we need to do.’ ”



Read more: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/06/05/1166959/opportunity-may-come-knocking.html#ixzz0q5eSqu4f
 
SloStang said:
Hammerhead Dad said:
aggiemba said:
Davis will be going WAC. Mark my words. I suspect Cal Poly will be going also. Sorry Sac.


Hmmmm...let see. I'm the WAC commissioner. Do I want a team in Sacramento, San Luis Obispo or Davis? Gee, you don't even need a UC Davis degree to figure that out.
Problem there is Davis is also in the Sacramento market so then it comes down to which school do you want. Both have their +'s and -'s. Cal Poly does not have the market Sac and Davis do, but they have other things they do not. I would like to see all three in up in the WAC.

I disagree that davis has the same presence in the Sacramento market and potential that Sac State does. Although only 14 miles from downtown Sacramento davis is at least 30-40 or more miles away from the southern and northern suburbs where most people that could be expected to attend sporting events live. To hard core fans this really wouldn't that much difference but to most of the casual fans davis is really out of the way, on the fringe of the area. Being a college town davis has always maintained a steady student attendance but they have not demonstrated the ability to draw form the greater Sacramento area. They have been unable to even sell out their 10,000 seat stadium even when hosting attractive games such as Poly, the Causeway, Montana, and the GWFC chamipionship game vs North Dakota. Sac State on the other hand is less relient on student attendance and has shown the ability to draw good crowds for attractive games. This year's Causeway drew over 17,000 even though nither team was going anyplace, I recall Causeways that drew 20,000 and having 16,000 for Poly. It is not hard to envision 20,000+ at Hornet Stadium for Fresno State or Nevada and close to it for San Jose State. I think that sometime down the road Sac State, Poly and davis may forced to either to move up to FBS or discontinue football. Ideally all three would make the jump together into the same conference. My concern when considering the WAC is what schools are staying? If the schools of regional interest , Fresno, Nevada and San Jose State depart and we are left with Utah State, New Mexico State, Louisanna Tech etc. is it really worth the sacrifices required to make the jump at this point?
 
SloStang said:
All good points GL.


Thanks!


How about a "new" WAC with
Fresno State
Nevada-Reno
San Jose State
Sac State
Cal Poly
davis
Hawaii
Portland State and/or San Diego State

Most of the major media and recruiting areas of the west coast covered!
 
SloStang said:
Looks good to me. I would like to see Cal Poly, Sac State and Davis all move up together.

Just like the old AWC, just jumble the letters and you get WAC. It would be awesome to have the three teams and SJSU, Nevada and FSU all within league. Looks like FSU could be the new Boise in this league.
 
Green Laser said:
SloStang said:
All good points GL.


Thanks!


How about a "new" WAC with
Fresno State
Nevada-Reno
San Jose State
Sac State
Cal Poly
davis
Hawaii
Portland State and/or San Diego State

Most of the major media and recruiting areas of the west coast covered!

The problem with this grouping could potentially be the B(C)$ trying to force it to FCS.
 
Green Cookie Monster said:
SloStang said:
Looks good to me. I would like to see Cal Poly, Sac State and Davis all move up together.

Just like the old AWC, just jumble the letters and you get WAC. It would be awesome to have the three teams and SJSU, Nevada and FSU all within league. Looks like FSU could be the new Boise in this league.

You're right, GCM. Seems to me that outside of Reno, this is the California Bus League, Part Deux. (The Big West is Part Un.)
 
Since this is all candyland speculation, I'd suspect that if it does materialize positively for these three Cali schools will the current WAC, sans Boise and La Tech, still contain the members that Sac State would find advantageous.

I think with the current economic situation the mantra of the Presidents at each member school, especially Fresno and SJSU, will be cost containment and a reduction in expenses. Unless your a BCS, regionalization will be key for growth and survival. As regionalization will provide a saturation of media and fan exposure and as we know, gate receipts, donations/sponsorships and media money provide the golden egg.

Having members located in Louisiana and possibly Texas is prudently irresponsible. And even crazy talk North Dakota State makes for a circus of expenses and logistics. This is afterall a Western based conference. NMSU is pushing the footprint and by adding programs that don't have direct flights or driving/travel convenience for fans will be greatly effecting gate receipt. I would easily predict at least 20,000 fans at Hornet Stadium for a game against Nevada or SJSU, more for Fresno. That 20K would be made up of fans from both programs. How many Bobcat or Runners fans will attend a game in San Jose? SJSU averaged ~ 15K fans last year, that means the program lost 5K potential revenue paying fans that would have traveled with the visiting team.

Add to that the expense of maintaining non-revenue producing sports and it just doesnt make sense.

I feel pretty confident that due diligence has been done and Dr. Wanless wouldn't be making such flippant remarks to the press and being quoted by cornerstone conference presidents if it didn't have validity.

If an invite does materialize, I'd say accept it. We already sponsor 20 varsity sports and fulfill Title IX requirements. We could add more schollies to womens crew, that program can have many schollies, to offset the additional 22 football schollies. Any additional non-revenue producing sport expenses would be negated by a bus ride v. flying for a tennis match in Pocatello or a mens golf tournament in Hartford.

The conference and teams could focus on promoting and directing media attention for games against regional rivalries. McClatchy owns the Fresno and Sacramento Bee along with the San Jose Mercury, so having three member teams with the same owner could really drive up rivalries and readership.

Thoughts?
 
SloStang said:
Hammerhead Dad said:
aggiemba said:
Davis will be going WAC. Mark my words. I suspect Cal Poly will be going also. Sorry Sac.


Hmmmm...let see. I'm the WAC commissioner. Do I want a team in Sacramento, San Luis Obispo or Davis? Gee, you don't even need a UC Davis degree to figure that out.
Problem there is Davis is also in the Sacramento market so then it comes down to which school do you want. Both have their +'s and -'s. Cal Poly does not have the market Sac and Davis do, but they have other things they do not. I would like to see all three in up in the WAC.

davis is its own little Idaho. It represents a blip in the overall coverage (remember UCFE graduates are geniuses and often travel the world expousing their knowledge to the less fortunate, therefore not many alumni remain in the Sacramento region after receiving their silver spoon). Or they return back to Asia and the Middle East where they lowball the cost of production and drive hard working American citizens who have families out of a job.

You have W. Sacramento as a buffer and the longterm Mayor of that city is a Sac State alum and very active at the school. Sac State just purchased 280 acres in Placer county for a satellite campus, so that is driving an ownership stake into an explosive growth oriented part of the region. Everything west of davis has eight stomachs, so the market share drops substantially until the Bay Area picks it up. davis is like a wart at the end of a finger.
 
Green Cookie Monster said:
davis is its own little Idaho. It represents a blip in the overall coverage (remember UCFE graduates are geniuses and often travel the world expousing their knowledge to the less fortunate, therefore not many alumni remain in the Sacramento region after receiving their silver spoon). Or they return back to Asia and the Middle East where they lowball the cost of production and drive hard working American citizens who have families out of a job.

You have W. Sacramento as a buffer and the longterm Mayor of that city is a Sac State alum and very active at the school. Sac State just purchased 280 acres in Placer county for a satellite campus, so that is driving an ownership stake into an explosive growth oriented part of the region. Everything west of davis has eight stomachs, so the market share drops substantially until the Bay Area picks it up. davis is like a wart at the end of a finger.

I just had to add your last sentence as a signature. Well done lol :lol:
 

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