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Waylee entering the portal
- Thread starter Itsux2beaewe
- Start date
PorkerPoke
Well-known member
How do FCS programs feel about the future of football? Much lower budgets.
Never thought I would be thinking this, but maybe Wyoming really needs to seriously entertain a new model such as the FCS version of football and a conference with a requirement for 7 sports.
Big Sky conference requirements:
Each core member institution is required to participate in all of the following core sports:
Women: basketball, cross country, golf, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field,
tennis, volleyball.
Men: basketball, cross country, football, indoor track and field, outdoor track and
field, tennis.
Wyoming has been and will be a pretender on the big money stage. It’s just not sustainable when there are no longer stipulations on recruiting and retention. It’s exposed just how vulnerable being the owner of a homemade go cart is up against a top fuel dragster.
Wyoming has very nice facilities to sustain and support a vastly reduced budget and at least give the fan base something to look forward to besides perpetual bottom feeder status.
The next 5 years will be defining and planning now for the inevitable might be a wise move.
What is the MWC penalty for dropping out of the FBS sooner than later? Simply don’t sign on to any expensive grant of rights as this current one fades away. Wyoming won’t be the only MWC member in this predicament as will numerous other G6 programs.
The question to be determined - what will the new G level be like?
Never thought I would be thinking this, but maybe Wyoming really needs to seriously entertain a new model such as the FCS version of football and a conference with a requirement for 7 sports.
Big Sky conference requirements:
Each core member institution is required to participate in all of the following core sports:
Women: basketball, cross country, golf, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field,
tennis, volleyball.
Men: basketball, cross country, football, indoor track and field, outdoor track and
field, tennis.
Wyoming has been and will be a pretender on the big money stage. It’s just not sustainable when there are no longer stipulations on recruiting and retention. It’s exposed just how vulnerable being the owner of a homemade go cart is up against a top fuel dragster.
Wyoming has very nice facilities to sustain and support a vastly reduced budget and at least give the fan base something to look forward to besides perpetual bottom feeder status.
The next 5 years will be defining and planning now for the inevitable might be a wise move.
What is the MWC penalty for dropping out of the FBS sooner than later? Simply don’t sign on to any expensive grant of rights as this current one fades away. Wyoming won’t be the only MWC member in this predicament as will numerous other G6 programs.
The question to be determined - what will the new G level be like?
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Not quite the same as what we're talking about, but worth a read. Division 1 program in my home state makes the transition to Division 3 starting in Fall 2026.
www.francis.edu
Athletics Transition | Saint Francis University
www.francis.edu
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
If you don't follow CFB history, this is worth the read.
Slightly different motivators, but the end result was the same. Big dogs kick the little dogs to the curb. However, with NIL, there is a real chance that it will extend across all sports. The NCAA tourney is showing what NIL does to the smaller conferences. Maybe there will be more opportunity in non-revenue sports?
Slightly different motivators, but the end result was the same. Big dogs kick the little dogs to the curb. However, with NIL, there is a real chance that it will extend across all sports. The NCAA tourney is showing what NIL does to the smaller conferences. Maybe there will be more opportunity in non-revenue sports?
I don’t hate the idea of moving to FCS. It would create some really interesting rivalries with schools that are more like us—Montana, Montana State, Idaho, Dakotas, etc. The regional matchups would probably be more compelling than watching us get outspent and out-recruited and out-portaled year after year in the MWC.
That said, I do have concerns about the core sports requirements, especially for outdoor sports given Wyoming’s climate. Would we be forced to fund sports that don’t make sense for us just to fit into a new conference model? And what happens to existing programs that don’t align with those requirements?
Dropping down would mean losing a chunk of TV money, potential donor hesitation, and less national exposure. It would also mean reduced travel costs, lower coaching salaries, and an overall more sustainable budget.
As I've said before, we have to ask: are we chasing an outdated dream, or should we be proactive in shaping a model that works for Wyoming? Doing the same thing over and over isn’t working, and it’s clear we aren’t built to compete in the modern FBS landscape.
This thread started as a discussion about Waylee hitting the portal, and we’ve moved away from that (mostly my fault). I know the idea of dropping down or adjusting the model hasn’t been popular here, but maybe it’s worth its own thread so we can get back to portal-related talk here.
PorkerPoke
Well-known member
The reality is that in order to be good and a legitimate threat to compete for championships, a program must have the players who are difference makers.
That said I didn’t see very many players over the last 3 years that have left Wyoming as being irreplaceable, but at the same time it certainly didn’t make the 2 major sports programs better.
Very soon a new thread will be appropriate regarding the next steps of being a FBS team in the MWC living with the settlement agreements of the pee12. Regardless of what happens with that, the biggest factor will be what the SEC and B1G do. If they form a super division and leave behind the bottom feeders of the Pee4 group there may become a sustainable model that is below the supreme level but above the FCS model. That of course makes the assumption Wyoming would be considered a viable best of the rest and how costly it would be to compete in the national irrelevance division pretending to be “big time”.
It’s going to be interesting but for now nothing more than speculation.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
It should be enlightening that the only conferences left in the Sweet 16 are SEC (7), Big 10 (4), Big 12 (4), ACC (1)... First time since like 1970 where only major conferences were in the Sweet 16.
NIL/portal has already made the split a reality.
NIL/portal has already made the split a reality.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
Add First Round NCAAT team Saint Francis to the growing list of schools realizing that D3 is the better investment.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...t-francis-first-four-loss-moving-division-iii
The handwriting is on the wall already. You will not see another mid -major make the Final Four. No more Bulter, VCU, Gonzaga, Florida Atlantic , or SDSU making the Final Four. No more 15 or 16 seeds into the Sweet Sixteen. March Madness will no longer be the place where the little guy might get a chance.
Sad . Really sad to see where things are heading.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
Great read.
www.yahoo.com
March Madness: Is NIL the death of Cinderella?
For the first time since the NCAA tournament expanded to 32 teams in 1975, every team that advanced to the Sweet 16 hails from a power conference.
www.yahoo.com
flyfishwyo
Well-known member
His brother didn't. Pete left Northwestern to play at Carolina.
Itsux2beaewe
Well-known member
Waylee and others haven’t found a new school. Harsh and Stevenson might be the only ones who have bettered themselves and that remains to be seen. Both would have started at UW.
phxpoke
Well-known member
Would Savell take Waylee back?
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
I’d say this is way way premature…considering the spring portal period didn’t even officially open until April 16 and players have until April 25 to enter.
The reason Waylee anlmost assuredly announced his intention before the portal period opened was so he wouldn’t have to play spring ball (and I guess risk injury).
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
I’m sure he would. Just the same as he caved to the demand to play Waylee only 4 games so Waylee could have another year.
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Itsux2beaewe
Well-known member
Based on his statement he made the other day, nope.
………..Would Sawvel ever dream of taking them back?
Nope," he said bluntly. "I will sometimes in a walk-on situation, in that regard, but if you go -- if you open that door -- you're going to have your whole team in there every year. So, that's not an option.
"Once you cross that bridge, that bridge gets burned and there's no coming back."
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Itsux2beaewe
Well-known member
Maybe. I was just pointing out he hasn’t found a new home as of today.
PokeNer
Well-known member
This is happening across the board - Ike with Linder, Volk with Branch, and Waylee with Sawvel. These coaches appear to be getting played like a fiddle. These top athletes get medical attention and get to rehab on UWs dime and then bolt. It’s so damn frustrating. I’d like to know how much we spent in medical expenses on those three alone. It has to get ironed out, it’s just ludicrous the way it’s structured at the moment with no caps, no contracts, no buyouts, etc.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
I think the bigger issue is that 2 of those guys (Waylee and Ike) were arguably healthy to play but chose to sit to preserve eligibility to be used elsewhere. And we fostered it.
My feeling on this is similar to yours but we are decidedly in the minority on this stuff nowadays. The prevailing sentiment is that it's shortsighted to elevate your risk of injury in any way since the longevity of athletic careers is soooo important to future earnings. This has started in professional sports but with the professionalization of college athletics, it has definitely trickled down.
The question of "are you hurt or are you injured?" has become complicated. Now there are a lot of other questions around that original question:
- Could Ike and Waylee have played at a high level?
- What if a conference championship were on the line?
- How much does the risk to future earnings rise with full competition?
- Is there a potential large payday in the near future (NIL transfer) that would be impacted by secondary injury?
