Comments about ‘Mountain West should add 10th member ASAP’

I agree 100%. 10 teams is the optimal size for a conference.

The full round-robin schedule in football gives you a true champion.

In basketball, you get travel partners and a 10 team conference tournament. (That means they could finally eliminate the ridiculous 8-9 play-in game)

Adding a 10th member makes a lot of sense. That's exactly why I don't think the Mountain West would do it.

In response to Ry - adding a 10th team wouldn't eliminate the 8 vs 9 play-in game in the basketball tournament. You'd still have that game and you'd also have another play-in game with 7 vs 10. Unless, of course, you only allow the top 8 teams into the tournament, which wouldn't be a bad thing really.

I'm not convinced that the MWC needs a 10th team. But if the MWC adds a 10th team, I'm only in favor of adding Boise St. None of the other schools mentioned would add as much to the conference as BSU would.

Sure add Boise State - sounds like a money grab to me!

These are all good points, but who's to say that BSU wants to join the MWC? There is a lot of discussion around which is the better conference the WAC or the MWC. Perhaps BYU should look at joining the WAC where they have things such as TV coverage for their events.

Go for Tulsa to increase the recruiting footprint in TX/OK.

Right... those guys wouldn't want to miss any of those midweek classes...

I know BSU has had great success with their football program, but they are also a trucking school. How can a school like that help our conference.

BSU would be a good choice. They have really advanced their athletics as well as their academics over the last few years. They have quickly become the premier university in the state.

If you were to add Boise State, who would be competing for 2nd place every football season? That's what it would come down to. Besides, the WAC offers Boise State more competition than MWC teams. Don't believe me? BSU is 12-0 against MWC teams. The WAC is the better conference right now, is moving up and making improvements, and has a brighter future. The MWC is stagnant and not going anywhere.

Adding more schools to the MWC just divides the already small financial pie more ways. The only way expansion has a chance to help the conference is if the incoming school adds greater size to the overall pie, which means larger markets for future television agreements (look at the current mess) and a more prominent national profile. The answer: Look to the University of Houston, which would make a great travel partner for TCU, or Memphis, or maybe Tulane.

Sorry, Boise. You've had a fantastic run. But what will happen when your football team doesn't measure up to its recent success? What else could you bring to the MWC table? Your television market is so small it would add nothing to any future network deal, and your other sports programs have no national profile. If your football team even takes a small downturn (and it will at some point), national interest will cease. Then the MWC would be stuck with you.

No, if the MWC decides to expand, it needs to look to the southeast.

BSU would add a whole lot more to the MWC Air Force ever has. They have an average basketball team what else? The problem isn't who should they add, but who they should get rid of.

The Houston Cougars would never move to the MWC unless there was an Auto-Qual for the BCS attached. The C-USA division they are in right now is a great fit with natural rivals.

As for BSU, there seem to be quite a few misconceptions about them. To the poster who claimed they were a "trucking school" I take it you're not aware the vo-tech programs have been spun-off to a new community college?

And to those who claim they cannot sustain their winning ways--granted every program has ups & downs but did you know that Boise State has been winning in football since it's inception? They won national championships at the JUCO and D1AA levels before moving to D1. If they joined the MWC, they would bring one of the best winning percentages (maybe second to BYU).

Add that they have recently won a PAC-10 title in wrestling (yes they compete in the PAC-10 in wrestling), have nationally ranked track and tennis programs plus a growing basketball program and I doubt you'd have to worry if Boise knows how to win.

If the mountain west expanded to 10 teams, they would have to consider themselves very fortunate if Boise state decided to move to the MW. Boise state doesnt need the MW, but In my opinion the MW really needs Boise State. We have to realize that the landscape has changed for Boise State and they are not the ones that are desperate for a conference that is a little better than the one they are in to invite them to join. I am a faithfull Ute fan, and I would like nothing more that to have the Broncos on our schedule every year but I also understand that they may be out of our league. I think we need to start pursuing this as a conference if we want to step it up to the next level.

The grass is always greener isn't it?
BSU is still a Big Sky team to me.
A successful one at that!
They've moved up and have excelled. Why pull them down into the MWC? Except for your own inflated view of your conference.

The MWC should worry about improving their own teams rather than taking the best team from their sister conference. The MWC needs BSU in order to get better. But BSU doesn't need the MWC. In fact, the WAC continues to improve overall.

Houston, TCU was very much in the same stiuation as UH when the MWC extended the invitation to join. If the MWC were to invite UH to join, they would use the same process TCU, i.e. employ consulatnts, weigh options, etc. Your assertion that UH would "never join" the MWC without the auto-qual to the BCS is your fabrication.

To Houston and all the other BSU partisans, If you think the WAC is great, fine, stay with it and make it an even better conference. All the better for USU. You don't need to disparage the MWC to do that.

I agree that moving teams from the WAC would be difficult unless there is a local rivalry acting as a draw (ie Nevada, New Mexico State, USU).

The MWC should work out a deal with the WAC to play a football title game every year: the MWC champ vs. the WAC champ the 1st weekend in December. That may draw enough attention to get a BCS auto-bid.

I wish all of my fellow Mt. West conference supporters would wake up and smell the coffee. We do not have a major conferecence, hence the name given to our conference a "mid major". We all know the saying "where ever you go, there you are" that is what the MW is dealing with unless we take a progresive step and invite a major player like Boise State. If we want to change from mid major to major, we have to make changes and invite Boise State. I hope they would accept the invitation for our sake. Then again we can just accept the fact of being a second rate conference and maybe once every decade we can get one of our teams in a BCS bowl. I hate the idea of getting better and competing with bigger conferecnes any ways.

Forget about expanding the MWC! Let's just concentrate on improving the league as a whole. When we get every team in the MWC playing up to par across the board, we'll stand on our own merits as a distinguished league in both academics and sports...we don't need the wac...and as you've read above, they certainly don't want, or even much like, and believe they are superior to the MWC...you take care of yours...we'll take care of ours!

Ratman, I don't see one disparaging comment about the MWC in my post. That certainly wasn't my intention and I, in fact, am a huge fan of the WMC. However I do think you need to:

1) verify your facts about the accomplishments of BSU before commenting negatively (it's hard to take serious jabs thrown at a program that is 12-0 against MWC schools);

2) accept that the MWC is not as appealing to other mids as it was 2-3 years ago (namely your terrible TV contract which has hurt your visibility); and

3) understand that for many of the supporter of schools in the new C-USA, there is a belief that they will become the next Auto-Qual conference--not the WAC or MWC. I feel confident in saying again that the U of H would not come to the MWC without a guarantee of an Auto-Qual.

The MWC is no longer seen as a sure route to the BCS. College football continues to evolve and the landscape will probably change significantly over the next three years. Your presidents have quite a bit of work to do to deliver on the promise of the MWC and so far, they have failed more than succeeded.