There is still a possibility of LaTech going to CUSA, Vandalfan. Word is the Big East is looking at raiding CUSA again, although this will be in the future. Louisville & Cincy both want Memphis in, and if they get their way, Memphis will get a Big East invite. Another possibility is ECU going to the Big East. I think LTU is going to hold out for a few years and see if any more dominoes fall.

I'm surprised that Idaho isn't in the WAC yet.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Idaho should be in the WAC. Thx--

I think if Idaho can show some concrete plans regarding there athletic future then they may very well get the nod over N. Texas, but at this point N. Texas only has 1 big strike against them and that is distance. It is somewhat negated by the fact that It would be a shorter trip for UTEP and New Mexico St. and you have a minimal bus ride.
Also I think N. Texas is on the verge of becoming a major player in TX athletics. Emrging FB program and some nice new faciliteis in the works do to be done in the next 2 years or so. The stadium seats 30k and they are currently drawing an average of 18,694 fans, which I would assume (ouch) would get better moving into the WAC.

Its time to start the uproar and bring Idaho into the wac why wait for the defections Idaho would be excellent programs to the WAC, its track, cross country programs are excellent, golf and tennis as well, Womens basketball is undefeated! come on start the cry of a Vandal invasion into the WAC make up for many lost years of being vandalized!!!!

Anything there that's successful actually make money?

Yes basketball is the only thing to do in the winter time in the palouse volleyball games were packed this year and they got an NCAA berth! And regardless of that they do ok playing home games at Seattle and Pullman! and since when was this all about money?? the majority of universtities dont make money anyways....

If you look at the schools by media markets it will become apparent why they are divided as they are. The MWC took the best markets from the WAC and left. The only exception was SJ St. (very dodgy hold on Div 1 status) and Fresno (Can't remember if they were under investigation then).

Specifically, the rule that they must have the football members in 6 conference mens sports.

Who would have thunk it?

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Jan/04/sp/sp06a.html

A quick investigation shows that this is a serious issue for the 2005 WAC.
The WAC offers 8 mens sports, but none of the 9 schools play all 8.
All of the 9 schools do play the I-A school-required 6 NCAA mens sports (some outside the WAC)

WAC schools per sport:
basketball – 9
football – 9
golf – 9
baseball – 6 (not Boise, UTEP, UT ST)
cross country – 6 (not Fresno, HI, NV)
tennis – 6 (not SJ ST, UTEP, LA Tech)
outdoor track – 5 (not HI, NV, SJ ST, NM ST)
indoor track – 4 (not Fresno, HI, NV, SJ ST, NM ST)

WAC sports per school:
Boise – 7 (not baseball)
LA tech – 7 (not tennis)
UT ST – 7 (not baseball)
Fresno – 6 (not XC, indoor) [both cut in summer 2003 for budget issues]
UTEP – 6 (not baseball, tennis)
NM ST – 6 (not indoor, outdoor)
HI – 5 (not XC, indoor, outdoor)
NV – 5 (not XC, indoor, outdoor)
SJ ST – 5 (not tennis, indoor, outdoor)

Problem #1: 3 schools are only in 5 WAC sports. 6 WAC sports are required for the school to be considered a conference member.

HI & NV can fix that by adding XC. It’s one of the cheapest NCAA sports, and since they already have Women’s XC, so set up time should be minimal. Title XI is always an issue, but we’re not talking football here, so the ramifications of adding the sport is probably minimal.

SJ ST is in a tougher spot, since their “missing” sports are all more costly than XC. Given that they would probably have to add womens track teams too (they don’t have them, unlike the other 8 schools), tennis seems their only option. They already have a womens tennis team, so they must have the facilities, but their budget problems are well known, even if the Title XI issues are minimal given the athletes involved (10 or so). This means their mens soccer team, a Mountain Pacific Sports member, could still end up the fall guy to the old “Title XI” excuse to cover a budget problem.

Problem #2: The track programs don’t have the required 6 participants to qualify as a NCAA conference sport.

Losing those sports means the WAC only has 6 sports available, which means:
HI & NV have to add XC (listed above), and so does Fresno
SJ ST has to add tennis (listed above), and so does UTEP and LA Tech
Boise, UTEP and UT ST have to add baseball.

XC may be cheap and, to a degree, so is tennis (since they all have womens teams already), but baseball is not.
No one is going to want to add that team if at all possible (Boise doesn’t even have softball).

This means they need to keep both track teams.
The easiest solution is:
1. Get Fresno to add indoor track. They already have outdoor track and both womens track, so it would seem easy to do. But is there budget good enough to allow it?
= 5 indoor teams and 5 outdoor teams

2. Add another school that has both track sports. Idaho seems to be the only football-playing option, but the I-A rule doesn’t say that all 6 participants in each WAC sport must play football, just that all football schools play in 6 WAC sports.

Problem #3: If LA Tech leaves, baseball, and the track teams (if fixed as above) are left with only 5 participants each.
Idaho doesn’t play baseball, so they wouldn’t have helped the cause there.

Once again, they would need to find someone to sign up that has those 3 sports, or get some members to add sports again.

Wright Waters offerred Benson a peaceful and orderly resolution to all of this. Benson declined. I have no pity for him or their schools.

The WAC is dying a slow death. The MWC will slowly bleed it out of viable schools.

La Tech will either be in CUSA or THE BELT. If NMSU is smart, they will rethink their position.

There are also a few womens issues for the 2005 WAC.
The WAC offers 10 womens sports, but only 2 schools play all 10.
8 of the 9 schools do play in at least 8 of the WAC sports.

WAC schools per sport:
basketball – 9
cross country – 9
tennis – 9
volleyball – 9
softball – 8 (not Boise)
outdoor track – 8 (not SJ ST)
indoor track – 8 (not SJ ST)
soccer – 7 (not LA Tech, NM ST)
golf – 6 (not Fresno, LA Tech, UT ST)
swimming – 5 (not Boise, UTEP, LA Tech, UT ST)

WAC sports per school:
HI – 10
NV – 10
Fresno – 9 (not golf)
UTEP – 9 (not swim)
NM ST – 9 (not soccer)
Boise – 8 (not softball, swim)
SJ ST – 8 (not indoor, outdoor)
UT ST – 8 (not golf, swim)
LA Tech – 7 (not golf, soccer, swim)



Problem #1: LA Tech only plays in 7 WAC sports.
They only have 7 womens sports at all, so they need to add one regardless (All I-A teams must play 8)

The possibilities are to add golf, soccer or swimming. They already have a mens golf team so the inexpensive golf sports looks like their best option. The league, however, may push for swimming.

Problem #2: There are only 5 participants in swimming

The league may look to kill two birds with one stone by convincing LA Tech to add swimming as it’s 8th sport.

Idaho doesn’t have womens swimming so their addition would not fix this problem.
Adding a partial member would also fix the problem.

The WAC could drop swimming (maybe its participants could move to the National Independent Conference), but that would leave SJ ST with only 7 WAC sports. They only lack the 2 track sports and probably don’t want to add either since they don’t have those sports for men or women.

Swimming may be gone since it looks like it is doomed at Fresno State:

http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/bulldogs/story/7977264p-8849151c.html

It's official, Bulldog womens swimming (and mens soccer) has been dropped after this school year.

http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/bulldogs/story/8037670p-8900091c.html

Idaho just added womens swimming, but now the WAC is still short one participant even if they added the Vandals.

http://idaho.theinsiders.com/2/227580.html

Louisiana Tech chose to add womens soccer & womens bowling (to play in the SWAC) to get to their NCAA-required 16 sports per college.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/sports/html/1B84872F-B41E-47A7-965B-037AEB0C2BF9.shtml

I think that we are in the beginning stages of showing concrete plans. We just hired a new athletic director and football coach. We have added women's swimming and a new coach. We are looking at adding women's crew as well.

We are finishing the Vandal Athletic Center, which will house a 7,000sqft strength and conditioning center, hall of fame and nice new offices. The last thing to focus on would be attendance. I would personally like to see a horseshoe added to the Kibbie Dome (around 15Million) to expand seating to 20K. Another lofty goal would be for an outdoor stadium. I really don't see much support given the bad financial times at UI and in Idaho. I think it will happen, but much later (2010 or later?). I have said the attendance requirement can be manipulated. They allow one "neutral" site game to count. We have Seahawk stadium (WSU game) and Martin Stadium available to us. We played our entire season at Martin Stadium a few years ago to get the attendance requirement. It can happen.

I think the biggest concern is [assuming TCU leaves and/or BSU] who will leave the WAC to go to CUSA. I would argue that UTEP is closer to the WAC schools than LaTech, which is on an island. UTEP isn't a very good program right now, either. Arguably UI is a better program, and that is saying something! ;P LaTech is a good regional fit for CUSA. They are closer to the other schools. When they were in the WAC, they had Rice, SMU and Tulsa for company. Now they are all gone and LaTech is by its lonesome. I really want to see this happen, regardless of if BSU goes. I would actually rather have BSU in the same conference. It would energize a strong rivalry and make the games mean something instead of an out-of-conference game. It would be great.

GO VANDALS! ;D