Conference Realignment - May 1

[uniftw]

Just shows how IMPORTANT football is and how much money is involved. Boise State is pretty much sacrificing all it's other sports for football. Kinda sad...

Could one say the same thing about schools that have FCS football - they are sacrificing funds that could be spent on their athletic programs to the money drain that is FCS football?

Honestly, none of BSU's other athletic programs are all that good anyway, so in this instance I don't think it matters much. BSU is known throughout the country due to their FB team. As cool of a story as Gonzaga's rise in college hoops is, the rise of BSU's football team in the big, big money world of college football is much more amazing.

FWIW, BSU has a real good wrestling program.


However, WSU and Creighton have neither wrestling nor football....which is why I'm not shocked at the lack of understanding that without football you're more or less stuck

[jwa123]

I concur with that without football you are dead. Exceptions are Butler and VCU but they are rare exceptions. What they had was geography on their side as they fit into the A10 footprint well and both are not out on the edge of the plains.

CU wants in the A10 and the WSU fans want to go somewhere though that is undefined as of yet. If they can better themselves by going elsewhere then that's what they should do. No hard feelings on my part. I hate to rain on the hubris of some but not all of the WSU fans but the rest of us will be ok without them.

[BirdmanBB]

I concur with that without football you are dead. Exceptions are Butler and VCU but they are rare exceptions. What they had was geography on their side as they fit into the A10 footprint well and both are not out on the edge of the plains.

CU wants in the A10 and the WSU fans want to go somewhere though that is undefined as of yet. If they can better themselves by going elsewhere then that's what they should do. No hard feelings on my part. I hate to rain on the hubris of some but not all of the WSU fans but the rest of us will be ok without them.

http://www.butlersports.com/sports/m-footbl/index

VCU has also expressed interest in starting football. Although joining the A10 might slow that process, there is no reason why they cannot start a FCS team in another conference.

Because of geography, schools like WSU's only hope is to restart football and build that up. I just can't see east coast basketball conferences taking teams like CU and WSU. It's never happened before. Any crazy movement spanning across the U.S. has only revolved around football.

[DoubleJayAlum]

However, WSU and Creighton have neither wrestling nor football....which is why I'm not shocked at the lack of understanding that without football you're more or less stuck

I'm not really sure what wrestling has to do with anything.

As to being stuck, if Creighton is stuck, it is because of geography, not a lack of little league football. I don't see other conferences banging down the doors to try to get NIU, MSU, SIU, etc. as members.

CU and WSU don't have to worry about our athletic departments being broke because of 1AA football either.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Because of geography, schools like WSU's only hope is to restart football and build that up. I just can't see east coast basketball conferences taking teams like CU and WSU. It's never happened before. Any crazy movement spanning across the U.S. has only revolved around football.

Have you ever heard of a school named St Louis University? How about Marquette? Butler? There are plenty of schools that have done exactly what you say never has been done.

By the way, there is zero evidence that Creighton is trying to get into the A10. While certain fans would like to see it happen (including this poster), there are plenty of others that aren't interested at all.

[BirdmanBB]

Because of geography, schools like WSU's only hope is to restart football and build that up. I just can't see east coast basketball conferences taking teams like CU and WSU. It's never happened before. Any crazy movement spanning across the U.S. has only revolved around football.

Have you ever heard of a school named St Louis University? How about Marquette? Butler? There are plenty of schools that have done exactly what you say never has been done.

By the way, there is zero evidence that Creighton is trying to get into the A10. While certain fans would like to see it happen (including this poster), there are plenty of others that aren't interested at all.

A move that would put CU and/or WSU into the A10 would be asking for a whole lot more travel of east coast teams that I am sure they are not willing to do.

Butler is a fantastic fit for the A10 because it gives them a recruiting footprint in Indiana.

This is why I am glad ISU has football. While it is and will be a long road traveled, hopefully we put ourselves in a better position for the longrun as the program continues to gain momentum. The new stadium itself will have the minimum requirement for FBS football (15K). Once the stands start filling up more regularly the goal has always been to move football up. Who knows if that means basketball will come with, but we will see. Best case scenario in my mind would be to move football into the MAC while basketball stays in the MVC. After Temple, I don't think the MAC will ever do that again though. Before realignment happened our administration had targeted CUSA as a potential landing spot, but who knows where the thought process is at now.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Because of geography, schools like WSU's only hope is to restart football and build that up. I just can't see east coast basketball conferences taking teams like CU and WSU. It's never happened before. Any crazy movement spanning across the U.S. has only revolved around football.

Have you ever heard of a school named St Louis University? How about Marquette? Butler? There are plenty of schools that have done exactly what you say never has been done.

By the way, there is zero evidence that Creighton is trying to get into the A10. While certain fans would like to see it happen (including this poster), there are plenty of others that aren't interested at all.

A move that would put CU and/or WSU into the A10 would be asking for a whole lot more travel of east coast teams that I am sure they are not willing to do.

Butler is a fantastic fit for the A10 because it gives them a recruiting footprint in Indiana.

This is why I am glad ISU has football. While it is and will be a long road traveled, hopefully we put ourselves in a better position for the longrun as the program continues to gain momentum. The new stadium itself will have the minimum requirement for FBS football (15K). Once the stands start filling up more regularly the goal has always been to move football up. Who knows if that means basketball will come with, but we will see. Best case scenario in my mind would be to move football into the MAC while basketball stays in the MVC. After Temple, I don't think the MAC will ever do that again though. Before realignment happened our administration had targeted CUSA as a potential landing spot, but who knows where the thought process is at now.

You can dream all that you want, but IlSu isn't any more appealing to another conference than Creighton is. In fact, Creighton is probably more appealing . I've been hearing about how IlSu is "on the verge" of moving up a level for about 7 years now, yet it doesn't appear than you are any closer now than you were then.

The reality is that schools with 1-AA football aren't really any more appealing to conferences that play big boy football than schools without football.

FWIW, Creighton had an offer from Conference USA when it was first formed, but turned it down. Sure that was a few years back, but lets not pretend there aren't options. Did IlSU have such an offer? I know NIU didn't.

Creighton isn't dying to leave the MVC, despite what you may believe (they certainly have not been soliciting offers). We've been very successful here, owning the conference tournament in St Louis and finishing in the top half of the conference for as long as I can remember off the top of my head. I truly believe that if Creighton really wanted to leave, they would be able to find some willing takers. At this point however, they haven't done that.

[jwa123]

Double Jay,

I don't know if it is a fact but rumor is the MAC and ISU did indeed talk back in the mid 90's but the talks went no where as I heard ISU prefers the MVC and rightfully so. Even now I can assure you from recent talks with some folks in the athletic dept at ISU there is no real desire to move from the MVC to the MAC. As they told me, "that would kill the basketball program."

As for Creighton being a more desirable candidate than ISU, I agree. We will have to see what Dan Muller can do and if successful if he stays around for any length of time. I'm not suggesting this will make ISU superior to Creighton but I do believe the next few years at ISU will be markedly different than the past 12 years have been.

As for football, don't diminish the progress that has been made. I won't suggest that ISU will ever be the football powerhouse that Conference USA would want like they want the football powerhouse MSU down in Springfield but progress is being made. Five years ago I couldn't give a darn about ISU football and now I am interested. Better teams are now taking the field and the recruitment of talent is better than it has ever been. As Birdman mentioned, a new football stadium is coming and will be used starting next season. As for FCS football, some schools like Appalachian State and James Madison regularly have attendance at 25 to 30,000. Not saying ISU will accomplish that but if they can begin to approach it, FCS football may not be a bad place to be.

[valleychamp]

You can dream all that you want, but IlSu isn't any more appealing to another conference than Creighton is. In fact, Creighton is probably more appealing . I've been hearing about how IlSu is "on the verge" of moving up a level for about 7 years now, yet it doesn't appear than you are any closer now than you were then.

The reality is that schools with 1-AA football aren't really any more appealing to conferences that play big boy football than schools without football.

Now that's just simply not accurate. How many conferences out there are soliciting affiliate members without football? Very few, if any. Without a football program to go along with everything else, its just not worth it in most cases. Even in the "mid-major" FBS leagues like the MAC, MWC, and CUSA, football the #1 priority, and those schools likely won't be adding and school without a football program.

Now, if you are talking about one of the few basketball only leagues like the A10, fine. But I still don't understand what the point would be of moving from one mid-major conference (at least a good one like the MVC) to another mid-major conference just for MBB. Unless you are going to get an offer from a BCS type league, which isn't happening (and it is 100% not happening for non-football schools), its just silly. Sure, maybe A10 looks like the better basketball conference right now. But will it be that way in the future? Who knows. Its certainly not worth moving your entire athletic department to a mostly east coast based league just for some perceived better competition in MBB for the time being, at least in my view.

FWIW, Creighton had an offer from Conference USA when it was first formed, but turned it down. Sure that was a few years back, but lets not pretend there aren't options. Did IlSU have such an offer? I know NIU didn't.

Why are we talking about Northern Illinois?

Creighton isn't dying to leave the MVC, despite what you may believe (they certainly have not been soliciting offers). We've been very successful here, owning the conference tournament in St Louis and finishing in the top half of the conference for as long as I can remember off the top of my head. I truly believe that if Creighton really wanted to leave, they would be able to find some willing takers. At this point however, they haven't done that.

Uh, no kidding they aren't. Most rational people realize this. Its people like you that have continued to propagate this talk, not random fans from other schools.

[TheAsianSensation]

[Best case scenario in my mind would be to move football into the MAC while basketball stays in the MVC. After Temple, I don't think the MAC will ever do that again though.

They're already doing that again with UMass.

I think the A-10 has clearly established itself as the top non-football conference in the country. Sorry, MVC. The A-10 reinforced with VCU and Butler. The WCC reinforced with BYU and Pacific. Really, those two with the MVC have the chance to break away from the conferences below and turn the sport of college basketball into a 13-conference breakaway. The only downside for Wichita and Creighton is that they can't fit in the A-10 and WCC, and there just isn't anyone else left in the midwest that is good values for the conference. We're sorta stuck. Which is why I think, in retrospect, Butler was a big loss for the MVC. Expansion isn't just about opportunity, it's about protection.