The Worm Has Turned

In the world of football driven college athletic conferences, a reality check takes place on an almost monthly basis. Just as the furor and excitement over the "Catholic Seven" schools breaking away from the Big East had subsided, Boise St. Univ. threw another gallon of gasoline on the fire by announcing that they would stay put in the Mountain West. The Broncos had been scheduled to depart the MWC and join the Big East in 2013. The departure of the seven basketball-only schools, apparently gave Boise St. cause to reconsider.

While common sense dictated that they stay in the Mountain West, it could cost the Broncos dearly to break away from a league that they were never a part of. The Big East, which has turned collecting exit fees into a cottage industry, claims that Boise St. owes them $10 million for reneging on their deal. The Mountain West and Boise St. put that figure at $5 million with the league willing to kick in a portion of the penalty. Let's just call it the $5 million dollar mistake and sweep it under the rug, we've all done that at some point.

In a world where loyalty, tradition and fair play have gone out the window, the MWC pulled a dirty trick straight out of  Big East commissioner  Mike Aresco's bag 'o tricks, they bribed Boise St. to reconsider their move. What's good for the goose.... The Big East's lack of scruples has turned on them, potential member schools are awakening to the fact that Mike Aresco is nothing more than the Bernie Madoff of college football, running a Ponzi scheme on those naive hicks out west. Turns out those potato farmers aren't as dumb as they seem.

The Broncos negotiated a provision that applies only to Boise St., among its MWC peers, allowing the Broncos to negotiate their own TV deal for all home games. They will also work with the MWC to land a television contract that's inclusive of all member schools. Money from the deal goes to the league and then is distributed back to Boise St. and other league members in a bonus plan. The bonuses factor in the network that carries the games and whether the games are broadcast on Saturdays or not.

The MWC also agreed to split 50/50 with any league team, the revenue paid for making it to a BCS bowl game. Reports from CBS Sports have that amount pegged at between $2 or $3.5 million dollars. It's win-win for all involved, The Mountain West is much more attractive to the networks with Boise St. as a member. That should keep the second tier of MWC schools happy for awhile, and if they're not happy, what are their options? For their part, The Big East claimed that they worked hard to keep Boise State on board, but that ultimately the Broncos called their bluff and they flinched.

Let's back this up just a tad, here's the timeline of events that led Boise St. to seek a better deal closer to home.  Mike Aresco's skills as a conference killer are starting to rival those of Karl Benson (WAC, Sun Belt) but this latest round started with the Big Ten adding Maryland and Rutgers as members. This led to the domino effect of the ACC plucking Louisville from the Big East, which resulted in Aresco inviting East Carolina (football only) & Tulane(all sports) to join the Big East. As it turned out, the Comish overplayed his hand. 

East Carolina made sense from a football standpoint, Tulane on the other hand, as a full member did not. (although road trips to NOLA would be fun) That proved to be the final straw for the basketball only schools that had helped build the Big East into a hoops power conference. Of all the schools scheduled to join the Big East, only two, Memphis & San Diego St. are competitive in basketball. The seven basketball only schools in the Big East had learned the hard way, that their legacy of hardwood achievement be damned, football was now in the driver's seat.  

Villanova, Georgetown, St. John's, DePaul, Marquette, Providence and Seton Hall banded together and announced that they were breaking away from the football playing Big East Schools. This set in place a pending legal battle, which is in the preliminary stages, of deciding how to split up millions in NCAA tournament revenue and exit fees. Also to be settled is which faction will get to use the name "Big East" The name has always been synonymous with excellence in basketball, not so much so in football. The football schools should start brainstorming for a new league name. 

Weighing on Mike Aresco is the lack of a television contract and the fact that in 2014,  the Big East will be lumped in with the MWC, MAC, CUSA & Sun Belt for a bracket spot in the college football playoffs. In the eyes of the BCS & NCAA selection process, losing Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Louisville, West Virginia and possibly Cincinnati or UConn is more than enough to put the Big East on equal footing those supposedly "lesser" football associations. As the sixth rated football conference, the Big East has become the football equivalent of a "border state" during the Civil War. 

As the BSC raiders swooped down and made off with the goods, the Big East was reduced to doing the same.... to their unsuspecting neighbors to the west. As Malcolm X once stated "the chickens have come home to roost" Boise St's decision now puts San Diego St. on the clock. The low hanging fruit of the MWC is now out of reach for Aresco's Raiders, perhaps they should turn to the MAC, CUSA or the Sun Belt.... ouch!  San Diego St. has yet to make its move, though a clause in their contract allows them to back out if there's not another Big East school west of the Rocky Mountains.

The current Mountain West schools aren't the prettiest gals at the ball, but they do put out. I mean that in terms of commitment to their athletic programs & facilities. A scattering of big name coaches, a solid core of good coaching staffs and more talent than anyone outside the BCS top four, makes the MWC attractive, even without BYU, Utah or TCU.  The Horned Frogs were probably a shoo-in for a playoff spot every now and then, had they stayed in the MWC. As a Big 12 member, TCU will never (mark my words) garner a playoff berth (the same goes for Utah and BYU, ~snicker~ )

Greed and selfishness make you do silly things, not that Utah or TCU were in any position to say no when the PAC 12 and Big 12 came-a-calling. Which brings me to the subject of continued conference realignment. The Big 10 and ACC have raised the ante, the Big 12 and PAC 12 must follow suit or fall behind. Who gets the golden ticket?, Maryland & Rutgers hit the jackpot by unexpectedly landing in the Big Ten, could the same happen to New Mexico?  A recent post in BeaverBlitz.com, the website for Oregon St. athletics, brings up an interesting point.

The PAC 12 in all likelihood will have to expand by two more schools, assuming that Texas & Oklahoma are no longer in the mix... who would that be? BeaverBlitz.com has Hawaii at the top of their list, which makes sense geographically and who wouldn't like going to Hawaii several times a year? The next two schools on their list are long shots  Nevada & Boise St..., even in this day and age of football madness, The  PAC 12 still values its academic reputation. Nevada is little more than a glorified teacher's college and Boise St. is a community college with one bad ass football team. 

Next on the list is the Univ. of New Mexico. UNM is a solid academic institution, most folks don't realize that. UNM's academics are on par with Utah, Washington St. & Oregon St., though I won't pretend that they can match those of Cal-Berkeley, Stanford, Colorado, UCLA, USC, U-Dub or Oregon. Athletically, UNM's football program is laughable, but no more so than say Colorado or Washington St. New Mexico's basketball prowess and commitment is well documented as is their commitment to women's athletics and the so called Olympic sports.

San Diego St. would seem to be a sure shot, but the PAC 12 SoCal television market is already saturated, do they really need another Southern California school? The same goes for Fresno St. and San Jose St.  Other western schools such as Wyoming, Air Force & Utah St. don't fit the bill and UNLV is too fucking shady for the discerning tastes of the PAC 12 leadership.  What about BYU?, the powers that be in the PAC 12 have practically gone on record as saying that a religious based school would never be allowed in the league. 

It's that cold shoulder from the PAC 12 that has BYU pursuing membership in the Big 12. The Cougars would fit right in with the Baptists and Methodists. The Big 12 faces a steeper climb to fourteen schools, seeing how they're only at 10 schools now. Barring lateral moves like Clemson or Florida St. jumping from the ACC to the Big 12, the lucky four could include, Houston, SMU, Rice, BYU, Memphis or Cincinnatti. Some schools like (UConn, UCF & Southern Miss) could get squeezed out, their best bet would be to re-join CUSA or the Sun Belt. (apparently, the MAC is immune to all this madness) 

Just days before Boise St. dropped the bomb on the Big East, rumors were circulating that BYU was in the process of putting together a new conference, that would include Boise St., BYU, Colorado St., New Mexico and god knows who else. With Louisville gone, plus Cincinnati and UConn looking for a way out, the Big East made a desperate bid to remain solvent by reaching out to Fresno St.and  UNLV.... they were rebuffed. After Boise St. made its plans official, MWC commissioner Craig Thompson (flush with a victor's glow) announced that the league would continue to hold talks with "several Western schools" (possibly Houston, SMU, Tulsa or BYU)

Thompson left us with the impression that the MWC was good to go with or without San Diego St.   SDSU, judging from the comments in the Union-Tribune and those of AD Jim Sterk would like to put some distance between themselves and the Mountain West. But without the Big East, the Aztecs are almost out of options.  As part of Boise State's contract with the Mountain West, the MWC must offer membership to San Diego State before any other school, but that doesn't mean the Aztecs are in. A MWC source told ESPN that "right now the votes are not there for SDSU to gain readmission to the MWC" 

The door slams shut for the Aztecs on Jan. 31st. MWC commissioner Craig Thompson claims that he's been in contact with Jim Sterk "every 20 minutes" when asked on the Tim Brando Show. GoAztecs.com no longer has the Big East logo on their website, and that's enough news to speculate that a return is likely to happen for San Diego State. Or is it?.... reports out of Colorado Springs & Albuquerque say that Thompson has been meeting with the BYU Cougars and that their return to the fold is imminent. 'Curiouser and curiouser!' indeed.

Left Nut Sports is a New Mexico based and New Mexico centric sports blog, so let's speculate on the future of the UNM Lobos. The PAC 12 expands, adding San Diego St. and New Mexico. One spot opens in the MWC, UTEP gets the nod. The Big 12 adds four schools... Houston, SMU, Cincinnati & BYU, this move effectively kills off the Big East, as the remaining schools in that league scramble to join either CUSA or the Sun Belt. New Mexico St. and Idaho land in CUSA, while Navy elects to remain an independent along with Notre Dame.

How would New Mexico fare in the PAC 12? On the gridiron they would suffer, on the hardwood they would prosper. New Mexico's women sports are strong and their minor men's sports such as golf, tennis, soccer, baseball and skiing are more than competitive. The move up would call for some major infrastructure upgrades especially in football. University Arena (the Pit) was recently renovated and Isotope's Park is a nice place for baseball games. UNM has an athletic budget that is equal to that of Washington St. and Utah, who bring up the rear in the PAC 12.

Stranger things have happened, who would have thought that either Rutgers or Maryland would be asked to join the Big 10? The entire issue of realignment probably won't go away until all five of the major conferences have at least 14 member schools. Television networks already are jockeying for position to negotiate with the seven Catholic basketball schools that ditched the Big East.   Butler and Xavier from the Atlantic 10 and Creighton from the Missouri Valley have been approached, which would  give the new conference 10 members.

Closer to home, the WAC is striving to continue on as a basketball only league.  The WAC needs at least seven basketball schools in order to keep its automatic bid. To this end they've added Grand Canyon Univ.,  a for-profit Christian university located in Phoenix, Az. Grand Canyon will be the first for-profit institution to compete in NCAA Division 1 sports. The school has had success at both the NAIA (National Champions in 1975) and NCAA Div. II level. Beyond 2012-13, just two of the current ten teams in the WAC will still be on board.

The new look WAC will feature, NMSU, Seattle, Chicago State, Cal St.- Bakersfield, Grand Canyon, Utah Valley and Texas Pan American. It's not pretty by a long shot and it's a far cry from the days of Rick Majerus, Don Haskins, Lavell Anderson, Danny Ainge, Tim Hardaway, Keith Van Horn, Fennis Dembo or Tiny Archibald. No matter... the downgraded WAC gets to hold on to its automatic NCAA tournament bid. Idaho could possibly give the conference eight schools for 2013-14 if they decide against returning to the Big Sky.