"Nobody wants us!, nobody cares!.... no brothers, no sisters, no tios or tias, we're the battling bastards out of Old Mesilla"
The Western Athletic Conference and by extension it's offspring (i.e. The Mountain West) have long served as a training ground for college athletic programs looking to move on to bigger and better things. Long ago and in a galaxy far away, Arizona St. and the U. of Arizona both played in the WAC, until they grew up and moved to the PAC 10 (now 12) The WAC just like a shy girl that yearns to be a whore, kept looking for ways to attract more fellers. It worked for awhile, hell! at one time the old gal had 16 men-a-courtin' and said yes to all of them.
That didn't end well, the resulting divorce split the WAC in two, with one side (led by BYU and Utah going off to form the Mountain West) The remaining WAC schools couldn't leave fast enough. SMU, Rice, TCU,UTEP & Tulsa all bolted for Conference USA (a league that at the time consisted of three divisions designated as Red, White & Blue) A corny shithole of an athletic association that has no natural or geographic rivals (UTEP vs Marshall?) Even the Texas schools are dissociated from one another (SMU-TCU was a good rivalry, but TCU would soon leave for The Mountain West)
The U. of Houston Cougars can barely work up a lather over having to play cross town rivals Rice and nobody in the C-USA gives a rat's ass about El Paso. Before the muddied waters could clear up, who should stroll in but the NMSU Aggies. Like a slutty freshman gal from T or C, The Aggies were looking for their next "date" I know what you're thinking.... "What's with all the sexist cracks and snarky remarks?" Lemme explain: this is college football, the most sexist, racist, obnoxiously biased form of amateur athletic competition (other than men's lacrosse) in the U.S.A.
In order to write about college football, you have to suspend all your normal beliefs and walk a mile in the shoes of a Georgia cracker, a Louisiana coonass, a Bama red ass or an Arkansas redneck. Then and only then can you start to understand what drives this game. This is not the NFL, college football is a snarly hybrid (like one of those wolf/dogs) Like the NFL, money drives the engine, however in college football everything is sneaky and done under the table. It's that deception, borne of necessity that gives the college game its unique characteristics.
All this could easily be out in the open. Take the five BCS automatic qualifying conferences (SEC, Big 10, Big 12, PAC 12, ACC, and no! the Big East is not a legit BCS conf.) and declare them professional feeder leagues (albeit with attendance and earning potential that surpasses that of many NFL teams) The non-BCS conferences and schools would then compete for the NCAA football title. This system works for soccer in Mexico and Latin America, where university teams compete right along side professional clubs at various levels.
For all intents and purposes the only thing "university" about these clubs would be the name, but the BCS schools would get their share of the proceeds without the pretense of abiding or holding to "amateur" rules. The second step would be to establish "NFL" style playoffs, incorporating some of the current college bowl games into the playoff system. 16 teams, 8 bowls games in the first round, 4 in the quarters, 2 in the semis and 1 in the finals. Players would get paid and the hypocrisy that surrounds college football would go away.
Back to the NMSU Aggies, having parted ways with The Missouri Valley Conf., The PCAA (now known as The Big West) and The Sun Belt Conf., the Las Cruces vagabonds drove up to WAC headquarters in their Fred Sanford pick-up truck and made themselves at home. The UTEP Miners took one whiff, threw their arms up in the air and declared "there goes the neighborhood" within days of The Aggies arrival in the WAC, UTEP bolted for Conference USA. The Las Cruces Sun-News headline that declared "Aggies-Miners now Conference rivals!" was a bit premature.
For longer than most of us have been alive, UTEP football has brought up the rear. For years they were without a doubt, the worse football team in the country. Obviously, El Pasoans couldn't play football at any level, which meant the rest of Texas hardly saw them as real Texans. (they're not) UTEP's remedy for this was to hire Mike Price, who had been castoff by the Univ. of Alabama (having never coached a single game) Price had earned the job at Bama by leading the WASU Cougars to a handful of good seasons during his 14 years at the Washington school.
Then with a seven year, $10 million dollar contract sitting on the desk (in the office once occupied by Bear Bryant) waiting for his signature... Price fucked it all up. On a spring night in April of 2003, Price spend a little too much time and drank a bit too much at a strip club, right before a charity golf event. To pour salt on the wound, Sports Illustrated then published an account of a "wild night" that followed at Price's hotel room as told by two young female participants. Price denied it and sued S.I., but Alabama wasn't buying any of it and fired Price before he was even officially hired.
All rascals and scoundrels have a home at UTEP*. The Miners' hired Price who led UTEP to an 8-4 record and a bowl game in his first season (2005) The Miners have not had a winning record since then, but they've won at least four games every year and in El Paso that counts for plenty. Now, with Price at the helm, UTEP fans can once again look down on their western neighbors at NMSU. It's that ingrained sense of "we may suck, but at least we're not the Aggies" that drove UTEP to join Conference USA, rather than accept the fact, that they belong on the same level as NMSU.
*footnote: (For the most part, UTEP head coaches and their assistants have been a hard drinking, fun loving, rule bending bunch. Don Haskins, Jason Rabedeaux, Billy Gillispie, Tim Floyd, Mike Price, Norm Ellenberger)
In 1958 Warren Woodson arrived at NMSU from Hardin Simmons (Aggie basketball legend, Lou Henson coached at that same school) He led the Aggies to a Sun Bowl victory (over North Texas) in 1959 and then followed up with a perfect 11-0 season in 1960, capped off by another Sun Bowl win, this time over Utah St. The NMSU Aggies finished the 1960 season ranked #17 in the final A.P. poll. Qb. Charley Johnson was the Sun Bowl MVP both of those years and went on to play in the NFL, most notably with The Denver Broncos.
Under Woodson, The Aggies were a force to reckon with, first in the old Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association and then after 1961, as a football independent. However, in 1967 the ever prickly Woodson wore out his welcome. Since he was due to turn 65 before the end of the 1968 season, some of his detractors schemed to invoke a mandatory retirement clause for university employees. Despite an exemplary 7-2-1 record during the 1967 campaign, Woodson, was unceremoniously sacked.
The bad karma brought on by Woodson's dismissal has lingered at NMSU, so much so, that some people talk about it as "the Woodson curse" since 1968 NMSU has had just four winning seasons on the gridiron and hasn't been back to a bowl since the 1960 Sun Bowl. The Aggie streak of 51 seasons without a bowl appearance is now the nation's longest, for FBS teams. "The Woodson curse" can't compare to the Red Sox's "Curse of the Bambino" (since broken) or the "curse of the billy goat" which has kept the hapless Chicago Cubs without a World Series title.
But, there has to be some sort of supernatural powers at work keeping the NMSU Aggies down. You can't blame the Aggies for the demise of the WAC. That guilt trip falls squarely at the feet of BYU. Here's the dirty details... The Big 12, thanks to the Texas Longhorns developing their own television sports package (The Longhorn Network) was in danger of imploding. After rumors that Texas, Oklahoma, Ok St. & Texas Tech would soon join the PAC 10 (now 12) Ken Starr, (yes that Ken Starr) raised a stink over Baylor being left out.
This led to an outpouring of pent up bad feelings and mistrust between all the schools in the Big 12, that resulted in Nebraska moving to the Big Ten (which now has 12 schools) and Colorado along with Utah joining the PAC 10 (now 12) The big four from the Big 12 decided to stay put having been spurned by the PAC 10 (now 12) Ruffled feathers were smoothed over and the Big 12 got used to the idea of having ten member schools. The zoobs of BYU stung by the fact that Utah and lowly Colorado and not them were invited to join the PAC 12 schemed to get even.
The Coogs, went backdoor and cut a deal to place all their men's and women's sports in the WAC, once they left the Mountain West to compete as a football independent. This of course, was news to the Mountain West. MWC Commissioner Scott Thompson acted quickly and invited the Univ. of Nevada and Fresno St. to join the Mountain West (Boise St. had already left the WAC for the MWC) That move derailed BYU's plans while the WAC scrambled to replenish its ranks. The wheels however were set in motion, re-alignment fever was spreading across the country.
The Big 12 lured TCU from the MWC, The Big East did likewise with Boise St. & San Diego St. The Mountain West in turn plucked San Jose St., Hawai'i and Utah St. from the WAC. Then, C-USA got involved and pulled Louisiana Tech from the WAC. The turnip had bled out, the WAC was dead as a football conference (the only football playing schools left after 2012 will be the U. of Idaho and NMSU) The irony is that the MWC, a league not deemed worthy of being an automatic qualifier, was stripped clean by BCS leagues, I'll let you ponder that one.
Here's your 2012 edition of the WAC:
Utah St., the Utags were passed over by the MWC the first time around, mostly because they were partners to the dirty dealings of BYU. Having set in motion the process that killed off the WAC, they had to swallow a big 'ol stink burger and join the Mountain.
NMSU, Nobody wants or needs them, even the Sun Belt passed. What's next? A few seasons of independent football before the inevitable drop down to the FCS. Warren Woodson finally get his revenge.
Texas State, Former Lobo head coach Dennis Franchione, returns to the Bobcats where he coached before leaving for UNM. Texas St. is stepping up from the FCS to the FBS. They'll play one season in the WAC before joining the Sun Belt Conf. in 2013.
U. of Idaho, It wasn't that long ago that Dennis Erickson had folks in Idaho all giddy, then he left for Arizona St. Now, Idaho is the NMSU of the North, nobody has room for them, so it's indie football for them. (after 2012, the men's & women's athletics squads will compete in the Big Sky)
Louisiana Tech, Head Coach Sonny Dykes and the reigning WAC champs will move on to Conference USA in 2013.
UTSA, Coached by Larry Coker (U. of Miami) UT-San Antonio is a startup program in only its second season, ever! The Roadrunners are a program with big ambitions, they'll join Conference USA in 2013.
San Jose State, Futility knows thy name well Spartans. SJSU reminds me an awful lot of UNM, except UNM kicks ass in basketball while SJSU gets its ass kicked in basketball. San Jose will join the Mountain West in 2013.
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