There was talk on the WDAY-TV news (Fargo, ND) that the Big Sky is going to be expanding to 10 teams as the conference is afraid of teams leaving the confrerence in the future. Here is the link to the WDAY news report. (Click on 6:00 and go to about the 24:30 mark to see the report.

http://www.in-forum.com/wday/

I know the Big Sky is still hopeing that Idaho comes back, but if not, I can think of a couple of schools from the Dakotas that could help the Big Sky out. ;) ;D

The key words, to me, are "the conference is afraid of teams leaving the conference in the future".

That's not an expansion. That's holding still.

Are they talking about Montana moving up? Nobody else will be ready to move up for quite some time. Heck, that's probably true of Montana.

Are they talking about Sac State looking at dropping football and going to the Big West?

Are they talking about Portland State's football program becoming a black hole for the athletic department?

Would Northern Arizona consider a geograp ERRRRRRRR never mind. I can't imagine them fancying Southern Utah over their current arrangement.

Or am I missing something?

Here is an article from the Grand Forks, ND (UND's home town) newspaper. It say a lot, but one thing I did notice was that it said a Conf. needs 7 teams to maintain it Auto Bid.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/sports/7546959.htm

NDSU searches for games
Bison keep working on their move to Division I
By Dave Nilles
Special to the Herald

FARGO - It's been 16 months since North Dakota State announced it plans to move up to NCAA Division I.

With less than a year left until the move officially begins, NDSU athletic director Gene Taylor is comfortable with where the school is at in the transition process.

The Bison still don't have a conference. But Taylor knew that wouldn't be easy. However, groundwork is under way to form a football-only conference.

Earlier this month, Taylor met with officials from five transitional Division I-AA schools in Las Vegas to plan the initial stages of a football-only conference involving NDSU, South Dakota State, Northern Colorado, St. Mary's (Calif.), Southern Utah, California Davis and California Poly- San Luis Obispo.

Taylor hasn't ruled out the Big Sky or Gateway conferences as possibilities for other sports.

"The major conferences are realizing that eight teams isn't where you want to be anymore," Taylor said. "If you are an automatic qualifier and lose a team you get nervous. The eight-member conference is becoming a dinosaur."

A conference must maintain seven members to be eligible to receive NCAA money from the Division I basketball tournament. The Big Sky and Gateway have eight each. Another conference possibility for the Bison, the Mid-Continent, has nine.

Recent conference shuffling in Division I may open doors for NDSU. . . .

Another NDSU obstacle may be overcome this spring when the NCAA decides whether to shorten the waiting period for sports to become eligible for postseason competition. Men's basketball may be shortened from 13 to five years.

"I'm confident it will go through," Taylor said.

Another piece of legislation may remove the waiting period entirely for individual sports, such as wrestling.

Taylor hopes the Bison have a conference by next fall or early winter.

Are you kidding me? Gateway? It's a FOOTBALL ONLY conference in 1-AA. The Gateway looked great last year in the Final Four.

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My guess is that the writer up in Grand Forks meant MVC. The paper up there is still more in touch with the D-II world. They only did this story because NDSU is UND's biggest rival.

Great story on the Big Sky and where they are going to:

http://i-aa.org/article.asp?articleid=52740

Yeah, BisonKent did a good job summing up the Big Sky situation. What is real interesting here is that while the Dakota schools have made it very public that they want to join the Big Sky, Northern Colorado has expressed no interest and instead has given the impression that they prefer the Mid-Con. But if 1 school were to be added as protection against any future departures, they might actually be the school that tops the list. Should be interesting. What's tough is that should the Big Sky ever add the Dakota schools, it would make things tough for the new I-AA conference. Here's hoping a few more D2 schools upgrade to I-AA football (and there have been discussions of this happening).

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On other boards I have asked UNC folks why they are not working hard to get into the Big Sky, they are such a geographic fit.

They have said that they want to go to a Conf. that has Baseball. Apparently they were a Baseball Power in the past. They have told me that they are still in the Top 10 (Top 15 or something along those lines) in D-I Baseball tournament appearances. They also would be one of two D-I baseball schools in Colorado (I think the other is USAFA). So baseball is the driving reason that UNC wants to get into the Mid-Con and play football in the GWC.

It seems crazy to me to have baseball drive this decision for them, but that is what they tell me. It should be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

The rumor mill is buzzing about the Big Sky. Seems folks out West are hearing that Sac-State is going to look for a new California Home for all sports except football. Could happen within 6 months. The rumor goes on that the Hornets will join the new football only conf. (Great Western, or whatever they are going to call it). Even Hornet fans are talking about how a new home might be a good idea (big shift from a few weeks ago).

This of course has got folks talking about replacements and expansion. When those topics come up the Dakota schools are never far away. ;) :) At this point its all fan talk, but where there is smoke . . .

Ok, this is just an idea I came up with, so please just take it as such. What if the Big Sky decided down the road to merge (or annex, or whatever ya wanna call it) with the new tentative Great West Conference for football? This would end up allowing Northern Colorado, NDSU and SDSU full membership into the Big Sky while giving them 10 conference members in basketball, while lightening the impact of a possible (or maybe eventual) Sac State move to the Big West.

Here's how it sits now
BIG SKY
Eastern Washington
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
Northern Arizona
Portland State
Sacramento State
Weber State

GREAT WEST (or whatever name they come up with)
Cal-Davis (Big West hoops)
Cal Poly (Big West hoops)
North Dakota State
Northern Colorado
South Dakota State
Southern Utah (Mid-Con hoops)
St. Mary's (West Coast hoops)

And here wouldbe how the hoops end of this theoretical new Big Sky would look:
Eastern Washington
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
North Dakota State
Northern Arizona
Northern Colorado
Portland State
South Dakota State
Weber State
FB ONLY MEMBERS
Cal-Davis (Big West hoops)
Cal Poly (Big West hoops)
Sacramento State (Big West hoops)
Southern Utah (Mid-Con hoops)
St. Mary's (West Coast hoops)

The only problem with this is that there would be 15 teams, which means someone would have to sit each weekend. However, this could be serve as an insurance policy, per se if Sac State decided to drop football, or if Montana would decide to upgrade to I-A. It also leaves the door open for another westerm school to upgrade to I-AA.

Just an idea :)

OK, so San Jose St. Academic Senate votes on football today and it sets in motion the next round of dominoes.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/8471749.htm?1c

Academic Senate vote could lead to end of football at San Jose State

BY BECKY BARTINDALE

Knight Ridder Newspapers


SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - In a move that could threaten San Jose State University's 110-year-old football tradition, the Academic Senate voted by secret ballot Monday to limit funding for sports teams and recommended withdrawing from Division I-A and the Western Athletic Conference altogether.

The action is meant to send a strong signal to the new university president - who could be named as soon as Tuesday - that in tight budget times, academics take priority over football. . . .


How does this effect the Big Sky you ask? Well San Jose St. who some Big Sky officals thought might move to the Sky probably drops football and joins the Big West. The WAC fearful for their existence offers an invite to Idaho (another I-A team the Big Sky would like to have). Next Sac-State who has been sitting on the fence jumps to the Big West and Great West for football. Next the Big Sky invites SDSU and NDSU and lastly the Great West Football Confernce gets the University of San Diego to come over from the Pioneer League to replace the other Dakota State University (Sac-State replaced the first). This is my theory today, what do you think?

I thought that St. Mary's dropped football:
http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default.asp?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/all/AGN3084319.htm

I wasn't aware that they had dropped football when I had made the post, but that makes it a little easier, cutting the theoretical football alignment down to 14 teams, which enables using 2 divisions and still gives enough leeway should a school or two leave the conference. It's just an idea I came up with, food for thought. :)

Looks like one of Doug Fullerton's dreams is not going to come true, Idaho is going to the WAC and not going to return to the Big Sky. This development my cause him to re-think his position on NDSU and SDSU.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/scorecard/othernews.asp?articleID=103310

Idaho to join Western Athletic Conference

Moscow, ID (Sports Network) - The University of Idaho accepted an invitation Friday to become an all-sports member of the Western Athletic Conference.

The Vandals will compete for one more season in the Sun Belt Conference before becoming a full member of a western conference for the first time since the Big West Conference dropped football following the 2000 season. . . .

"This is an historic day for Vandal athletics," said Rob Spear, Idaho's director of athletics. "We would like to thank the presidents of the Western Athletic Conference for extending the invitation, which we enthusiastically accept."

Karl Benson, commissioner of the WAC, said the decision of the eight voting members -- the schools that will comprise the league in 2005 -- was unanimous.

"The WAC is very excited about Idaho's membership," said Benson. "They bring great enthusiasm. They bring excitement to the WAC. They'll bring great value to the WAC."