How the MWC could become a Power Conference

[Coeur d' Alene]

If the MWC sits back and watches whatever changes come in college athletics there's a good chance that all that will happen is the conference weakens or gets eliminated. So instead of waiting and then reacting when any or all of Boise, UNLV, csu, sdsu, or whoever leave for whatever conference (won't be the pac 12) the idea should be strengthening the conference and being proactive in the changing of ncaa sports.


Football: become the first conference to have a playoff
*gives that much more of a chance for the best team to strengthen its schedule and resume

How? Cut 1 regular season game, make a conference rule to not play d2 schools. Have a 2nd 4 team playoff for bowl eligible teams or teams trying to become eligible. Teams 5-8. Maybe even a "futures" bracket for the toilet bowl teams.


All sports/basketball: big expansion of non football schools. Make the western U.S. Have only 2 conferences matter in anything.

Must get teams: Gonzaga, Wichita and Creighton
Schools to add for geographical and media power: Denver, Pepperdine, Long Beach, San Fransico
Football adds: Houston and SMU

BB divisions
WYO, csu, Air Force, Denver
Boise, Gonzaga, utah st, San Fran, San Jose
Hawaii, sdsu, Pepperdine, long beach
Unlv, Fresno, Nevada, New Mexico
Creighton, Wichita, SMU, Houston


Football divisions:
East: wyo, csu, Houston, SMU, new mex, usu
West:Hawaii, sdsu, Fresno, sjsu, unlv, Nevada ((then split up usu and Boise either way)


Run this a couple years and then go after Phase 2. Break up the big 12 by going after Texas, Oklahoma(s), Kansas and even BYU by eventually making smaller divisions in football as well to allow more scheduling flexibility


I know the wac tried the huge conference before and didn't really work. But it was the wrong teams/wrong time. Now is the right time. Starting with some basketball only schools would work. Maybe some of my Cali bball picks are the wrong ones or not needed, but Gonzaga, Wichita, creighton would all be huge pluses to the conference. The divisions could all be adjusted too. dU and San Fran I could see being really questionable (long beach and Pepperdine as well) but it's about what those schools could become playing at a higher level and the cities of LA, San Fran, Denver coming in.



My point is that the MWC needs to get out ahead before they get broken up by other conferences

[Yabadabadoo]

If the MWC sits back and watches whatever changes come in college athletics there's a good chance that all that will happen is the conference weakens or gets eliminated. So instead of waiting and then reacting when any or all of Boise, UNLV, csu, sdsu, or whoever leave for whatever conference (won't be the pac 12) the idea should be strengthening the conference and being proactive in the changing of ncaa sports.


Football: become the first conference to have a playoff
*gives that much more of a chance for the best team to strengthen its schedule and resume

How? Cut 1 regular season game, make a conference rule to not play d2 schools. Have a 2nd 4 team playoff for bowl eligible teams or teams trying to become eligible. Teams 5-8. Maybe even a "futures" bracket for the toilet bowl teams.


All sports/basketball: big expansion of non football schools. Make the western U.S. Have only 2 conferences matter in anything.

Must get teams: Gonzaga, Wichita and Creighton
Schools to add for geographical and media power: Denver, Pepperdine, Long Beach, San Fransico
Football adds: Houston and SMU

BB divisions
WYO, csu, Air Force, Denver
Boise, Gonzaga, utah st, San Fran, San Jose
Hawaii, sdsu, Pepperdine, long beach
Unlv, Fresno, Nevada, New Mexico
Creighton, Wichita, SMU, Houston


Football divisions:
East: wyo, csu, Houston, SMU, new mex, usu
West:Hawaii, sdsu, Fresno, sjsu, unlv, Nevada ((then split up usu and Boise either way)


Run this a couple years and then go after Phase 2. Break up the big 12 by going after Texas, Oklahoma(s), Kansas and even BYU by eventually making smaller divisions in football as well to allow more scheduling flexibility


I know the wac tried the huge conference before and didn't really work. But it was the wrong teams/wrong time. Now is the right time. Starting with some basketball only schools would work. Maybe some of my Cali bball picks are the wrong ones or not needed, but Gonzaga, Wichita, creighton would all be huge pluses to the conference. The divisions could all be adjusted too. dU and San Fran I could see being really questionable (long beach and Pepperdine as well) but it's about what those schools could become playing at a higher level and the cities of LA, San Fran, Denver coming in.



My point is that the MWC needs to get out ahead before they get broken up by other conferences

If nothing else your idea is pretty damn creative...thanks for the thought provoking thread.

But you compel me to ask you; what makes you think The MWC will be broken up and or outright eliminated?

[Coeur d' Alene]

I think BYU and Boise will continue to "itch" for something "bigger/better"

Neither will ever get into the pac 12. (Unlv would be chosen before them)

Csu obviously really wishes they could be big 12).

I don't think the pac or the big 12 will take any teams but that a new conference could start up if Texas, really wanted to shake things up and create some type of Texas, BYU, unlv, sdsu, Boise, Hawaii type conference


I guess I can't really answer your question with any kind of solid guess but I just think that the conference structure won't stay like they are now forever. Texas not wanting to have TCU and Baylor being better than them could kickstart something nobody is thinking of ???

[joshvanklomp]

It'll definitely be interesting to see the next conference shakeup. SDSU to Pac-12? Boise? Some combination of MWC with C-USA and AAC teams?

[Yabadabadoo]

A few years ago the MWC and Conference USA had talked brazenly about joining forces to partner with each other and network some kind of an affiliation. I thought it had the legs to be something substantive, but it never seemed to develop beyond the talking stage. I was really intrigued with the idea. Perhaps that can be revisited at some point? For purely football purposes I'd love to see a combination of schools such as North Texas, UTEP, and Rice join to open up some fertile ground so far as recruiting in the state of Texas. Additionally I'd love to see Marshall involved, and maybe even La. Tech and Western Kentucky to make inroads into the deep south. Drop Hawaii, drop San Jose State, and maybe even do away with San Diego State.

[Coeur d' Alene]

A few years ago the MWC and Conference USA had talked brazenly about joining forces to partner with each other and network some kind of an affiliation. I thought it had the legs to be something substantive, but it never seemed to develop beyond the talking stage. I was really intrigued with the idea. Perhaps that can be revisited at some point? For purely football purposes I'd love to see a combination of schools such as North Texas, UTEP, and Rice join to open up some fertile ground so far as recruiting in the state of Texas. Additionally I'd love to see Marshall involved, and maybe even La. Tech and Western Kentucky to make inroads into the deep south.

I forgot about UTEP. I always liked them but Houston and SMU would both be much better picks imo than the north tx, or UTEP


I don't like the idea of going east of Texas and spreading out the whole country when the possibility of locking down the entire west would be a better idea

[Coeur d' Alene]

It'll definitely be interesting to see the next conference shakeup. SDSU to Pac-12? Boise? Some combination of MWC with C-USA and AAC teams?

The pac 12 (this is a guy I know involved with the decision on their expansion w Utah and CU) highly valued the university "research institution" or something like that. Told me Boise wasn't even a thought and never would be as a very "new" university. It was a junior college until what the 80's. Current success aside they aren't a realistic possibility to get into the PAC. They don't want to water that down at all. He also said BYU wasn't in contention at all either and that none of those schools wants to be affiliated with them. I don't think the PAC will ever expand again, but if they did it would be to take in Texas and Unlv would prob be their partner coming in to keep the numbers even (or even hawaii).


This guy involved in PAC 12 decision making told me that Wyoming would come up before Boise st. That means never. And I believe he was being honest about the actual university playing a bigger part than how good a team was right then. I kind of told him bs it was just about the city of Denver and salt lake- he said that's a big part too. Said sdsu wasn't an option either because it's broke school that would never have the money pumped into the program to belong.

[Coeur d' Alene]

What do you guys think of the Gonzaga Wichita creighton part?

[alyssa]

What does SAK have to say about all of this?

[joshvanklomp]

The pac 12 (this is a guy I know involved with the decision on their expansion w Utah and CU) highly valued the university "research institution" or something like that.

That doesn't surprise me. The Big Ten does the same thing.

[joshvanklomp]

What do you guys think of the Gonzaga Wichita creighton part?

In basketball, sure, but it wouldn't change anything on the football side. I think Creighton's in a pretty good situation though.

[ragtimejoe1]

I don't disagree with the overall concept of the MWC being proactive but we will never be a P5 conference under any circumstance barring intervention by a larger body.

Secondly, expanding from this point would make things more exciting but wouldn't really increase revenue enough to offset the additional members. Even with the addition of the Houston and Dallas markets, we are still G5 and simply don't have the brand or market interest to get more tv dollars.

The P5 will split in the not to distant future. I actually think they contract rather than expand. At that point, all this conference gerrymandering will be irrelevant at our level. Until then, I think you are right about byu and BSU. If BSU gets passed by a AAC team because of a weak MWC then it could get interesting. I said in the other thread, they could form a majority coalition and kick the dead weight to the curb for football which would be the best thing they could do for their situation at the moment.

If that doesn't happen, the best thing the MWC can do, IMO, is work on our media infrastructure and allow teams more flexibility on the next tv contact. Strive to be prepared to sream to our own ROKU channel or something. Next is work on scheduling. Be the first conference to form a union of sorts to help all members schedule better and ban all FCS games.

[NowherePoke]

Nothing matters as long as the MWC includes teams that are non competitive against FCS competition (that would be us).

Other schools think of ways they can improve their program to the point that they are worthy of consideration for a Power league. We do the bare minimum (in terms of resources, competitively we don't even achieve that) and hope that the other schools in the MWC and the league as a whole will improve and bring us with them.

[AfiPoke]

I guess we will have to see if this TV bubble is legitimate before anything else occurs. Personally, I believe the networks got overextended, but I know very little about the deals.

The collective dilemma the MWC faces is TV sets. We've shown we can be competitive (Utah, TCU, Boise), but we don't have consistent viewing. I don't see adding Houston and SMU changing that.

I like your BBall setup. That would be a regular three bid league IMO.

I am sure the commission is wargaming this stuff 24/7, but we have had to be reactive in the past. It would be nice to see a proactive approach like this. It will probably take a major event to initiate more change and I think most conferences are playing turtle until something gets the ball rolling. The Big XII obviously needs to get to twelve. However, adding a couple teams that aren't on anyone else's radar probably won't instigate major change. Just my two cents.

[GoPokes86]

I guess we will have to see if this TV bubble is legitimate before anything else occurs. Personally, I believe the networks got overextended, but I know very little about the deals.

This. The almighty ESPN/ABC/Disney dollar may not be around too much longer. I think they networks have grossly overextended themselves and the ridiculous money that the P5 conferences get may quickly become a thing of the past.

[kansasCowboy]

Nothing matters as long as the MWC includes teams that are non competitive against FCS competition (that would be us).

Other schools think of ways they can improve their program to the point that they are worthy of consideration for a Power league. We do the bare minimum (in terms of resources, competitively we don't even achieve that) and hope that the other schools in the MWC and the league as a whole will improve and bring us with them.

So, we better include SDSU for getting wolluped by EIU a few years ago...and they're one of our "front runners" in the league.
We do the bare minimum?
We have some of the best facilities in the COUNTRY, not just league. Shoot SDSU is too cheap to even build their own stadium. Let's just play in a half filled stadium that is meant for a pro team. Put some flags up and cover the entire empty sections with team decaled art work to feel at home...
Others don't even promote their program. UNLV, SJSU.

One day all the promoting, money, renovations, facilities, recruiting and subpar seasons will pay off for something better. Winning. Continued winning. Maintained success.
I think we are a few years out if we just don't up and give up because we not filling the "instant gratification" part of your emotions.
Hold the course for once. I explained this in another thread with somebody else's list of coaches.

Think about Tiller. The guy should've had maintained success, but he fell back to mediocre and began to rebuild. 4-6-1; 5-7; (one good year) 8-4B(L); 6-5; 6-6. That's five years of mediocre. But at this point he had built up decent recruiting classes that would've brought on multiple years of success. We saw it for one.. 10-2. Had Tiller stayed he probably wouldve had far greater success than Dimel did with Tillers recruited talent. Had he stayed, we would've had a coach that would've been similar to a Greg Schiano type career with less losing the first few years. Bowls Every year. Or at least eligible, but snubbed. When Tillers talent ran out, so did Dimel who did not recruit well... Hence, what we have been building back up from.

WYO can be good again. Give it 5-6 years. We are in year 2... Let Tiller... I mean Bohl work his magic and just remain faithful.

Go Pokes!!!

[PCB]

I didn't notice Air Force in the football divisions. Did I miss something?

[fromolwyoming]

About the only way Wyoming even comes close to being in a P5 conference is if we either;
A. Suddenly triple or quadruple our population and nearly all of them support Wyoming
or
B. End up with a national following on par with Nebraska.