http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/45385/mwc-commish-open-to-gophers-ad-job
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Craig Thompson open to the Minnesota AD job?
- Thread starter MrTitleist
- Start date
I know there are some here that will disagree with me, but I hate to see him go. All I can say is thanks for the job he did. He took on an enormous job of starting the MWC up from scratch and built it up to what it is today - 5th best basketball conference in the country right now and 7th best football conference in the country this last season. He started up the Mountain channel and even though there were distribution problems, that was a hell-of-a task. We were seeing only a couple games a year on tv before that started.
BackHarlowRoad
Well-known member
Yup, being an AD or comissioner is like being President of the USA. No one likes you while you're still in office, it's not til later when people are bitching about their new leader they realize that maybe you weren't so bad.
Burman and Thompson both have been great for Wyo and the MWC.
Burman and Thompson both have been great for Wyo and the MWC.
McPeachy
Well-known member
BackHarlowRoad said:
Just puked. Thompson has always looked at Wyoming as the red headed step-child. Had the fucking guy been a little more proactive, and not settled in and been satisfied, Wyoming (my favorite school) may not be on the outside looking in in college sports these days. I fault his ass for not getting the MWC to be an absolute powerhouse conference 6 or 7 or so years ago. He should have looked at the 9 schools after adding TCU, and said, "we need to strengthen further, and get married to ESPN." Should have added Boise State to make 10, and then gone after 2 other logical fits (probably Fresno State & Hawaii). A 12 team conference made up of AFA, CSU, New Mexico, Wyoming, BYU, Utah, TCU, Boise, UNLV, SDSU, Fresno State, & Hawaii would be AQ and kicking ass right now. Instead, we lose BYU, Utah, TCU, and now Boise State & SDSU. All because he was satisfied where we were at, instead of trying to be the best. Fuck him.
Oh, and Burman...I wouldn't say great for UW either. His small time mentality rivals that of Thomspon's. The "Wyoming will never pay a coach a million dollars" line alone says it all. He should take a page out of CSewe's new AD's book...shoot for the sky, to be the best, or fucking go away. Oh, and the Heath experiment should have cost him his damn job (not just the hiring, but the extension).
:twocents:
fromolwyoming
Well-known member
McPeachy, ESPN was trying to pay us a fraction of what we got from the TV deal we signed on for, not to mention we would never had seen any of our games.
McPeachy
Well-known member
fromolwyoming said:
I would have enjoyed them paying Wyoming a fraction (or even nothing) for a few years, to not become irrelevant as we are today (or becoming today). Also...chicken - egg scenario, what would have ESPN paid in 07, 08, 09, etc., had the MWC been made up of the teams I mentioned? Probably 5x - 10x (if not more) than the mountain, currently. And it snowballs from there...
And...I see 10 - 11 games in person every year (football). It is my hobby, it is what I enjoy, it is what I work for, to afford every year. So I could care less if we were on TV...plus I know it effects home attendance (having UW home games on the .mtn)...just a pricetag on that alone is probably equal to the amount of $$ the .mtn pays UW.
:yikes:
thirtyseven
Well-known member
Not all of us can get to all the games. I would rather have the mtn than be on ESPN and never get to see the Pokes play.
McPeachy
Well-known member
thirtyseven said:
I hear ya...you are not alone, and neither is UW (or any school for that matter). There are fans everywhere, for every school, that cannot get to all the games. I was there once. For many years as well.
But that doesn't mean that UW should have an erection for the shitty .mtn contract...that probably ends up costing UW...not benefitting UW.
Shitty analogy time:
Kind of like a girlfriend...you take her for granted when she is with you, but when she is gone you miss her. UW football / basketball needs to have more people "miss" it. Then, we can start regularly selling out the WAR (of course winning is P1), and maybe build for the future.
laxwyo
Well-known member
I don't care about how much money we are getting from tv. I like being able to watch them on tv. anyone with direct tv can watch the games. pokes start winning and things will happen. we turn around and become a consistent MW champ, things will happen for us. I just don't see the MW in its current format or future getting any big money regardless of who it is. I'd rather watch them on the mtn than watching 10pm ESPN basketball games or thrusday night football games.
When WAC and Wyo were last with ESPN I sure listened to games on the radio a lot.
Given ESPN's marriage with the PAC and BIG 12 get ready for a lot of weeknight games if we go back there.
I would much rather see FOX and Root for new TV deal and avoid ESPN and weeknight games
Given ESPN's marriage with the PAC and BIG 12 get ready for a lot of weeknight games if we go back there.
I would much rather see FOX and Root for new TV deal and avoid ESPN and weeknight games
ESPN was going to pay us peanuts, literally table scraps. For all that insult, our football teams would have been playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and basketball would be forever consigned to 10 pm starts and Monday games.
When we told them to pound sand, ESPN signed up the WAC for the same per-team amount. Look how well that's turned out for them. They've had several teams leave for the MWC with our TV deal.
What we were going to get from ESPN was guaranteed disaster. The conference made a gutsy call to forgo ESPN's golden shower in the interest of the fans who wanted to attend games, and go for a new TV setup that had a chance to be something much bigger in the future. The gamble didn't pay off, and it's one reason we've lost the teams we have, but I will point out that BYU and Utah were the ones PUSHING for the mtn concept in the first place.
When we told them to pound sand, ESPN signed up the WAC for the same per-team amount. Look how well that's turned out for them. They've had several teams leave for the MWC with our TV deal.
What we were going to get from ESPN was guaranteed disaster. The conference made a gutsy call to forgo ESPN's golden shower in the interest of the fans who wanted to attend games, and go for a new TV setup that had a chance to be something much bigger in the future. The gamble didn't pay off, and it's one reason we've lost the teams we have, but I will point out that BYU and Utah were the ones PUSHING for the mtn concept in the first place.
