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Northern Illinois to join MWC

Midwest Cowboy said:
I didn't include Hawaii or California schools in my list of regional schools. But it is another 1,100 miles east of Laramie. I think Hawaii playing Rocky Mountain/Plains schools is silly, too. Way too many resources being spent for a short game. I'd put Hawaii in with SoCal schools. But again, I am a dinosaur.
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Well - we are about to be sending all of our sports teams yearly to Hawaii starting in 2026 when they become a full member (women’s soccer, basketball, track, swimming, tennis, etc…).

It’s going to be really expensive for sure. But maybe it will be a somewhat fruitful recruiting tool.

For football only, Hawaii simply has to travel to Illinois once every other year and Northern Illinois to Hawaii once every other year. Not a huge deal.
 
LanderPoke said:
Might as well get ndsu and a team in the eastern time zone to make us even more attractive for TV if we are going to be in a Frankenstein conference
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Until FCS schools commit to D1 budget, we don't want them to join. The difference between UW and NDSU is ~$25M a year, and joining the MW won't make up the difference. I saw an NDSU fan complaining about $50 playoff tickets on X. They need to figure out where that $25M is coming from before they can join.
 
flyfishwyo said:
Until FCS schools commit to D1 budget, we don't want them to join. The difference between UW and NDSU is ~$25M a year, and joining the MW won't make up the difference. I saw an NDSU fan complaining about $50 playoff tickets on X. They need to figure out where that $25M is coming from before they can join.
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Crazy thing is I think my Griz season tickets are more than UW season tickets.
 
MrTitleist said:
Crazy thing is I think my Griz season tickets are more than UW season tickets.
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I can't find it again, but it was a funny post. The guy was basically saying the reason NDSU didn't sell out their playoff games was because tickets were too expensive and the fan base had "playoff fatigue" from winning so often. They're going to have to do something pretty radical to raise another $25M if they want to jump to D1.
 
flyfishwyo said:
I can't find it again, but it was a funny post. The guy was basically saying the reason NDSU didn't sell out their playoff games was because tickets were too expensive and the fan base had "playoff fatigue" from winning so often. They're going to have to do something pretty radical to raise another $25M if they want to jump to D1.
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It was definitely not sold out for their playoff game vs SDSU.
 
LanderPoke said:
Ok. Wyoming is in the same boat as about 30 - 40 other schools. So?
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I guess what I was trying to get at is that all the things you said about Wyoming athletics making more money, having a higher budget, and funding more scholarships is only because Wyoming has been grandfathered into the higher tier of college athletics because "they've always been there".

The reorganization of college athletics has obviously already begun, and will continue to occur over the next decade or so. Wyoming's recent history of relatively poor performance and low population/potential TV viewership is fairly likely to lead to them being relegated to a "lower tier" of college athletics.

Once that occurs, money is going to dry up, budgets are going to be slashed, and scholarships will necessarily be cut. In essence, wherever we end up, is going to be the new FCS of the modern college athletics landscape. So enjoy looking down your brow at the current FCS school while you still can. There is a very good chance we are marching towards a similar fate.
 
TheRealUW said:
I guess what I was trying to get at is that all the things you said about Wyoming athletics making more money, having a higher budget, and funding more scholarships is only because Wyoming has been grandfathered into the higher tier of college athletics because "they've always been there".

The reorganization of college athletics has obviously already begun, and will continue to occur over the next decade or so. Wyoming's recent history of relatively poor performance and low population/potential TV viewership is fairly likely to lead to them being relegated to a "lower tier" of college athletics.

Once that occurs, money is going to dry up, budgets are going to be slashed, and scholarships will necessarily be cut. In essence, wherever we end up, is going to be the new FCS of the modern college athletics landscape. So enjoy looking down your brow at the current FCS school while you still can. There is a very good chance we are marching towards a similar fate.
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I believe this to be relatively accurate with the caveat that (other than maybe UNLV), I see all of the 2026 MWC teams largely in the same boat. Once the top 40-50 programs break off, I actually foresee the top of the FCS and the remaining FBS to basically merge into the same division.
 
TheRealUW said:
I guess what I was trying to get at is that all the things you said about Wyoming athletics making more money, having a higher budget, and funding more scholarships is only because Wyoming has been grandfathered into the higher tier of college athletics because "they've always been there".

The reorganization of college athletics has obviously already begun, and will continue to occur over the next decade or so. Wyoming's recent history of relatively poor performance and low population/potential TV viewership is fairly likely to lead to them being relegated to a "lower tier" of college athletics.

Once that occurs, money is going to dry up, budgets are going to be slashed, and scholarships will necessarily be cut. In essence, wherever we end up, is going to be the new FCS of the modern college athletics landscape. So enjoy looking down your brow at the current FCS school while you still can. There is a very good chance we are marching towards a similar fate.
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My question is this, if Wyoming were playing in the Big Sky or at the FCS level would they have had anything near the same level of success as North Dakota State over the past 15 years? I'm doubtful. . . but may others have a different idea. I'm thinking football would be pretty mediocre at whatever the level was.
 
rocket city poke said:
My question is this, if Wyoming were playing in the Big Sky or at the FCS level would they have had anything near the same level of success as North Dakota State over the past 15 years? I'm doubtful. . . but may others have a different idea. I'm thinking football would be pretty mediocre at whatever the level was.
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The real answer is that we will never truly know.

But my personal feeling is that Wyoming would have been very successful at the FCS level. The successful FCS programs are dominated by teams that come from states where they aren't competing against other state school(s) that are playing at the FBS level. As a result, these schools enjoy surprisingly good fan support for a "lower level" team. The Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota schools all enjoy this advantage. Wyoming fits right into this mold.

Contrast this with a state like Iowa. They have Iowa and Iowa State playing at the top level of college athletics. Good luck convincing the average college football fan in Iowa to care about Northern Iowa or Drake football unless they have some strong connection to those universities. Less support = less money = less competitive.
 
rocket city poke said:
My question is this, if Wyoming were playing in the Big Sky or at the FCS level would they have had anything near the same level of success as North Dakota State over the past 15 years? I'm doubtful. . . but may others have a different idea. I'm thinking football would be pretty mediocre at whatever the level was.
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We would be a premier FCS team just like all the other big western state schools
 
TheRealUW said:
I guess what I was trying to get at is that all the things you said about Wyoming athletics making more money, having a higher budget, and funding more scholarships is only because Wyoming has been grandfathered into the higher tier of college athletics because "they've always been there".

The reorganization of college athletics has obviously already begun, and will continue to occur over the next decade or so. Wyoming's recent history of relatively poor performance and low population/potential TV viewership is fairly likely to lead to them being relegated to a "lower tier" of college athletics.

Once that occurs, money is going to dry up, budgets are going to be slashed, and scholarships will necessarily be cut. In essence, wherever we end up, is going to be the new FCS of the modern college athletics landscape. So enjoy looking down your brow at the current FCS school while you still can. There is a very good chance we are marching towards a similar fate.
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All right, but we will be with peer schools like Nevada, New Mexico, utah state, csu, AF, UNLV, Fresno, sjsu, the whole MAC, CUSA, AAC etc. still not sure what the point is. Yeah a few current FCS will get the call up like the montanas, but we will be where we are now. Not much will change for us imo
 
LanderPoke said:
Towards the end of the year we beat Idaho 9/10 times. Our players are better
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I'm not sold that the end of the year was a sign of a pulse. Based on transfers, I think wsu lockerroom was struggling to maintain focus ending on a 4 game skid.

Bsu was getting the w while getting rest. If we were viewed as competition and got their best shot, it wouldn't have been close. If Jeanty had 10 more touches, it wouldn't have been close.

csu straight up kicked the crap out of us. Terrible game.

Unm was a W with first signs of life from the O. Based on the previously mentioned 3 games, it's pretty clear that was a function of Anderson breaking out but more an absolute dumpster fire for the opposing D. That and our D was decimated.

Signs of improvement? Sure. Large strides over the year? I'm not sure I'm sold. We wouldn't have been that competitive in the fcs playoffs especially on the road. Outside of conference affiliation and state investment in athletics, we didn't have a true competitive advantage over the top of fcs in most sports last year.
 
TheRealUW said:
The real answer is that we will never truly know.

But my personal feeling is that Wyoming would have been very successful at the FCS level. The successful FCS programs are dominated by teams that come from states where they aren't competing against other state school(s) that are playing at the FBS level. As a result, these schools enjoy surprisingly good fan support for a "lower level" team. The Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota schools all enjoy this advantage. Wyoming fits right into this mold.

Contrast this with a state like Iowa. They have Iowa and Iowa State playing at the top level of college athletics. Good luck convincing the average college football fan in Iowa to care about Northern Iowa or Drake football unless they have some strong connection to those universities. Less support = less money = less competitive.
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We would've stunk it up and been losers at that level, too. We have a culture of ingrained loser mentality. "Aw, shucks, it's good enough. We're just little Wyoming!". Sternberg report.....I re-read it every year.
 
Brew_Poke said:
We would've stunk it up and been losers at that level, too. We have a culture of ingrained loser mentality. "Aw, shucks, it's good enough. We're just little Wyoming!". Sternberg report.....I re-read it every year.
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Point taken.

I think there is some validity to the idea of a “loser culture” within Wyoming athletics. They always seem to have a litany of excuses lined up any time there is a failure.

That being said, the most important factor influencing Wyoming’s success or failure in athletics is not culture. It’s money. Now more than ever. Give the MWC the $1+ billion per year media deal that the Big Ten has and a Phil Knightesque donor to fund NIL payments and Wyoming would be winning a lot more games pretty quickly.

If you want to change the course of Wyoming athletics, finding a way to bring in a lot more money is the easiest way to do it.
 
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