Article out of Fort Collins (previously posted in another thread)discussing "possibility" of BYU rejoining the MWC at http://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/ ... 909299001/

BYU blog article discussing need for BYU to consider leaving the WCC at https://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2018/2/1 ... conference

So every college out west should re-align, just to benefit BYU during those rare years where they are marginally good a basketball ?

The problem mid-major conferences face is that the big boys stack the selection committee with their cronies who would rather see the #9 team in the ACC,
rather than a 30-win Wichita State. Until the committee's make-up gets "fixed", there is no point to these "Draconian solutions".

It’s a very BYU mindset. New conference for BYU, bring our two new friends and everyone from the MWC except Utah State and 1-2 other schools we don’t care about.

When the obvious answer is for the MWC to simply invite BYU, Gonzaga and St Mary’s...but that’s stupid because it would insinuate that BYU was re-joining the MWC and admitting failure, yep nothing to do but start a completely new conference.

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

Exactly my impression.
BYU isn't likely to get invited to a power conference any time soon. PAC isn't into religious schools, and Big XII passed on inviting them last year.
SO BYU's next best home would be a return to MWC, but their administration can't afford to "lose face", and admit their prior decision was a loser....

Gonzaga could complement FB-only Hawaii in the MWC, just as Wichita State complements FB-only Navy in the AAC. This just might happen...

i'm pretty sure i posted something like this on another bbs...i can't remember exactly...but...

what about byu to the mwc as a non-football member???

they could get a deal like notre dame has with the acc...the mwc takes byu non-football sports...in return byu plays half their football games in the mwc (4-5 games)...and byu football can remain independent...

I mean it’s possible, IIRC they considered that option when BYU was contemplating joining the WAC for nonfb, but look at BYU’s 2017 opponents.

FCS - Portland St
Independent- UMass
AAC - ECU
P5 - LSU, Wisconsin, Utah, Miss St
MWC - Boise, UNLV, Hawaii, Fresno, San Jose, Utah St

They were just 2 games shy from playing a full MWC schedule, if the MWC would stop playing BYU they’d have no choice but to rejoin.

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

Article out of San Diego(previously posted in another thread)with comments from MWC Commish regarding possible future league expansion.Unclear whether BYU would be a serious expansion candidate for that conference.Link at http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/spo ... story.html

BYU blog article discussing recent MWC/GU/BYU expansion report at https://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2018/3/2 ... nt-details

Ignoring the blog’s homerism for a second, did someone suggest that MWC wasn’t just considering from a list of 6, but might actually add more than Gonzaga and BYU?

I really should choose not to believe that. Yet I have a squirrelly feeling about this.

Thing is, this blogger has wasted our time with this “30 schools should follow BYU’s lead to a reset of our choosing” when there’s another way to at least attempt to go about this. And maybe I’m just suggesting this because it might be more fun if the MWC calls BYU out right after the stakes are raised.

First, I would think that the MWC ONLY accepts BYU back if football is included. Make it hurt a bit.

The concept I have for a BYU counter is “OK, fine, we insist on you adding other schools. Total 16 for football and 16 for basketball... so add UTEP, Rice, and a wildcard (possibly New Mexico State, or maybe take a flyer on something more wild). THEN, four years after that becomes an untenable mess, in the ultimate full circle of poetic comedy, induce 7 schools plus Hawaii and Gonzaga into a meeting at the Denver Airport and plot the split.

Am I serious? Eh, I call it art.

However, one reason the blogger is an idiot is that he jumps right to another arrangement of 12 or so. It is no accident that my artwork included 8 + 1. Minimalize at the outset, then indicate that you’ll consider schools from the “left behind” crowd as they rise to the top, so to speak.

Now, I had started thinking “who would I invite to the airport,” and I came up with some logic and a couple things from outside the box. But like any good art, spacing is important. Next time, yo.

Yeah, BYU can certainly be manipulative. And we've seen this movie before.

The thing of it is... at this point, expansion to 16 and then a split isn't going to achieve BYU's goal of getting into a P5 conference.

Nothing BYU does will change that. So change the narrative.

Of course, what if the G5 reorganizes into the following:

- Revenue sports (or maybe just football) organize a promotion/relegation structure, at least offering a top level of competition that will give the best schools a shot at being seen.

- Non-revenue sports are given a far more regional focus than current conferences. Given the shrinking pot of TV money at this end, it seems like we’re already starting to have this discussion.

There’s a gambit being made here. American television has devoted 10 channels to the final day of English Premier League play in May for a few years, and normally relegation is more in need of decision than the title. You’re at least trying to make the final league game day a thing... and maybe drag the P5 into the structure. That probably won’t work... the biggest beneficiaries of the current structure are schools like Oregon State, Boston College, Purdue, Vanderbilt (the big schools are healthy regardless). Induce big schools to want to separate from the shackles of those schools... here’s one way to do it.

But that’s a gambit. Almost art. Bit of a dream for now.

Also, that art would be a more advanced stage than my “who would I invite to the airport” work. I’m still a school short on that.

Okay if I buy that premise, who are the schools BYU would hand pick for a conference?

I’m guessing the original MWC schools except maybe they leave out Wyoming.

Boise, Hawaii football, Gonzaga non football, and Nevada are all solid schools so they likely get invited too.

So the current MWC plus BYU/Gonzaga and without Wyoming, San Jose St, Utah St, Fresno St (and I’d bet 2 of those 4 would still be invited), plus whoever else they add. Seems like a dumb plan when the point is simply to kick out Utah State and another random school BYU doesn’t like.

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

At this point, BYU should take a MWC invite with Gonzaga and be happy.

Overall, for the G5, I wouldn't get too stressed over things in football right now. Basically, you've got streaming and concussions racing to see what's going to blow up the current model anyway. Just make your conferences the best they can be by whatever criteria you want. In 5-20 years it's going to be chaos.

School #8 might be Nevada, if they can sustain that basketball success.

BYU, Boise State, Gonzaga are obvious.

Air Force is a national presence, never mind the athletics.

Hawai’i seems to like their arrangement, BYU wants that football and doesn’t mind not having the rest. Also, it’s a knockout visit and a decent bowl tie.

San Diego State is close to the same as a destination, though if their stadium issue isn’t resolved to their satisfaction, that becomes a problem. But they’ll probably have a reasonable outcome. Basketball has been good of late, and they probably have the most momentum going into the conference tourney this week.

UNLV may not have their athletic programs in a row right now, but it’s Vegas! They’re not the only school that could be considered that has glory in their past (UTEP), but you just want to be there.

Now the shocker. This conference needs a Northwestern or Vanderbilt. It needs it because BYU and Boise are rather suspect academically. Not that Gonzaga isn’t good, not that AFA isn’t revered. Thing is, a school two hours from a mega-market and 15 minutes from a “pro market” can be had at the same time. Athletically, they’ve been meh... but they have churned out a lot of good football coaches, they have the largest California arena in the Big West, and while the recently completed football stadium only seats 10,000, it was built with expansion in mind- so they’re thinking about this. Oh, the endowment is bigger (substantially) than every current MWC school. I present you the University of California at Davis. Having a UC school would be a real coup here. But would Davis run with BYU? Eh...

Now, Colorado State to pair with Air Force? New Mexico because it delivers A market? Fresno State if the suddenly resurgent football program sustains? Nevada? BYU can wait until the last minute on the final decision, meaning let the remaining cream rise.

Having gone through this silly exercise, though, reading on the Gonzaga board about the possibility of a “western division” of the Big East or the AAC intrigues me more, because you don’t even need 8 schools, and- at least for the AAC- has a marginally better chance of happening.