The WAC has become the Big West under the WAC name. I'm wondering if it was the right move to keep Tark and get the Save Mart Center. Or should Fresno St. have got rid of him like MWC said and join those schools. I know that Boise St.,Fresno St.,Nevada, and Hawaii have carried the WAC. I just think the WAC will always be looked at as a step down from the MWC. The CAA has been better than the A-10 in b-ball the last couple years however the A-10 is looked at as the better conference.

I do want the WAC to get a 10th school and I think it should be UC Davis, don't laugh. They just built a new stadium holds 15-20k they have 30,000 students, they have money. There in the GWFC which only has 5 members 2 that are in N.Dakota & S.Dakota. Cal Poly is there only close conference rival. Plus they have to worry about S.Utah getting in the Big Sky and N.Dak & S.Dak getting into the Gateway like NDSU & SDSU. So why not get out of that mess and join us?

Thoughts?

I think you are partially deluding yourself. I don't think that the eight schools that broke away from the W.A.C., and formed the Mtn. West Conference, wanted anything (more) to do with Fresno State, with, or without Tarkanian. They still "feel" the same today.

As to which school should be added, if and when the W.A.C. ever does expand to 10 teams, I would have to disagree with your pick of U.C. Davis. I think the most logical choice would have to be the University of Montana. By far. No one else is even close as far as I am concerned.

Take a look at the attendance figures for Division I-AA football teams. Montana is at the top of the list. In 2006 they averaged 22,600 in attendance for their football games. In their NINE home games last season they had a total attendance of 203,403. The 2nd largest total for all Div. I-AA progams last season was 152,773 and an average of 21,825, that being for Delaware.

The next largest Div I-AA school, as far as football attendance is concerned, from out West would be Montana State. Montana State was 18th in Div. I-AA football attendance last season with an average of 12,758. The next highest in attendance for schools in the West was Cal Poly SLO and they were 49th in Div I-AA football attendance last season. Cal Poly SLO averaged only 7,874 in attendance in 2006. Like I wrote earlier......no one else is even close to Montana. Idaho State was 54th with 7,435 in average football attendance and Portland State was 55th with an average of 7,296 in football attendance. In other words Montana averaged nearly twice as much in attendance for their football games as the nearest Div I-AA competing school from out West.

Montana also fields six men's sports, football, basketball, cross country, tennis, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. The only men's sports that the W.A.C. sanctions that Montana does not field are men's golf and baseball.

As far as women's sports Montana fields eight women's sports - those are - women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, and volleyball. The only women's sports that the W.A.C. sanctions that Montana does not have are gymnastics, swimming & diving and softball.

And with a little more funding I think they could fairly easily add one more men's and one more women's sports such as men's golf and women's swimming & diving.

Dude you're wrong, When we were not at the WAC breakup meeting we complained to the New MWC schools and were told flat out. We will only take Fresno St. if you guys hand Tark his walking papers right away. It was all over our local news.

Montana won't leave the Big Sky unless Montana St. goes with them. If you were were at the AGS board you'd see who is itching to move and who's happy where they are. Just because a team is the best doesn't mean they are the one that will move up. App St. says in I-AA but FIU, FAU, WKU leave for I-A

UC Davis offers more sports than Montana Boise St. and Fresno St. plus they have a new FB stadium.

Montana would do well in the WAC no doubt, but they don't want to leave I-AA any time soon.

I would prefer Davis because it's closer and Northern California is a good recruiting base. However, the WAC should probably just stay with the 9 they have.

Add Gonzaga...we don't need a 10th for football.

I think we have an all football playing rule. Plus you'd want one with football incase Boise St. gets into the MWC or Fresno St., Boise St., and Nevada get in if they went to 12. Some on the MWC board said that they don't want another small market like Boise they'd want Fresno St. or Houston. I still say Boise St. is the hot team now.

Fresno St. Alum Wrote:I think we have an all football playing rule. Plus you'd want one with football incase Boise St. gets into the MWC or Fresno St., Boise St., and Nevada get in if they went to 12. Some on the MWC board said that they don't want another small market like Boise they'd want Fresno St. or Houston. I still say Boise St. is the hot team now.

MWC won't add more than one...and, the only reason they would add one would be to mirror the Pac-10. And, if they add one, it will be Boise or Nevada. If they were to add three, it would be Nevada, Boise, and Fresno, but as I said earlier, I think that's highly unlikely. But, as long as we're talking about hypotheticals...I think that if the MWC did take 3, that would be the end of the WAC.

Oh, and TCU would black-ball Houston.

For Gonzaga the WAC would drop any all football playing rule. Gonzaga with Nevada and the ever dangerous Aggie twins would be a very salty basketball conference. Hawaii and Fresno have the chance to always be good. Tech is making major changes in basketball and football. Not saying Gonzaga is a move we should look at but if they asked I would think we would jump.

Nevada would be the last of the 3 Reno market is small, they'd have to compete with UTEP for a third spot. I agree that if they take any it would probably be just one and it would be Boise St.

I don't think the MWC is expanding any time in the next 10 years, if ever. Why would they need to? Why would they think about splitting the pie to smaller percentages when all they did was complain about the lack of revenue from ESPN?

UC Davis would make a good candidate. I don't think Montana will move up anytime in the next decade unless they get some serious new motivation. The school and most of their booster are happy in 1AA. Gonzaga would be nice, but that isn't the direction that the WAC wants to go according to the WAC Commissioner. We are very short on candidates and I doubt that changes any time soon.

The WAC is home to us all. We might as well be happy since not being happy is counter productive.

Fresno St. Alum Wrote:Nevada would be the last of the 3 Reno market is small, they'd have to compete with UTEP for a third spot. I agree that if they take any it would probably be just one and it would be Boise St.

Nevada can have the third spot, UTEP is not lobbying or competing with anyone to get into the MWC. UTEP seems to be really happy in C-USA and has great TV contracts, bowls, exposure, and Texas recruiting ties while being in C-USA so there is no need for UTEP to look for a spot in the MWC.

I don't mean this as an insult to UTEP, but I don't understand why people think the MWC is so interested in them.

They left UTEP behind when the WAC 16 split. Then they left UTEP behind when TCU was taken into the conference. Why would they want to take them now?

Six Pack Wrote:I don't mean this as an insult to UTEP, but I don't understand why people think the MWC is so interested in them.

They left UTEP behind when the WAC 16 split. Then they left UTEP behind when TCU was taken into the conference. Why would they want to take them now?

The same thing could be said about Fresno or Hawaii or really any WAC team.

The bottom line is that the MWC could have added any WAC team last expansion, but they chose only one school. For the past 10 years several schools have approached them about potential membership and they have all been told no. I don't know why anyone thinks they are about to change their minds. If they do fine, but it isn't all that likely despite what posters like to spread rumors about.

I think UC Davis is the best choice as well. Why?

1. Their location is awesome on 6 counts.

a. They're near the CA. State Capital.
b. They're located within throwing distance of 3 other WAC schools.
c. They're "easy" to get to via direct flight.
d. Nice TV market.
e. The Emerald Bowl. The Bowl comes up for renewal in '09 or '10. Having 4 schools in the area...can only help our cause.
f. Warmth.

2. They already play enough sports to go D-1.

3. They're putting money into their athletic programs now.

4. They'd have an easier time in getting cartel schools to play them in Davis.

5. They're a UC. This allows the WAC to mirror more closely...the Pac-10.

6. UC Davis plays Baseball.

But, the bottom line for the WAC should be "not" to go past 10 schools. Nine is perfect.

Six Pack Wrote:I don't mean this as an insult to UTEP, but I don't understand why people think the MWC is so interested in them.

They left UTEP behind when the WAC 16 split. Then they left UTEP behind when TCU was taken into the conference. Why would they want to take them now?

People probably still think that the MWC is interested in UTEP because of our geographic location, updated facilities, great fan support in both sports, and because we were with them for over 30 years, but I myself think that UTEP's old WAC days are completely over and is now looking forward to our new C-USA days.

We were never left behind when they picked TCU because we weren't with them at the time and it was mainly Boise and TCU lobbying hard to get into the MWC at the time.

We got left behind when the MWC-8 left everyone else in the WAC behind we then in turn left the WAC behind because UTEP had enough with how the WAC (Benson) treated UTEP during our last years there..and for bowl, TV, and Texas recruiting purposes as well, oh yeah and because everyone else was looking at getting out and we weren't going to be left behind once again, so we pulled the trigger first and got the hell out of Dodge.

Good luck to everyone in the WAC.

Fresno St. Alum Wrote:The WAC has become the Big West under the WAC name. I'm wondering if it was the right move to keep Tark and get the Save Mart Center. Or should Fresno St. have got rid of him like MWC said and join those schools?

First off, I think it strange that you are posting a question about how we might better have dumped the WAC on a WAC board.

Second, who cares? That's in the past. We can't bring Tark back just so we can fire him and ask for a do-over.

Third, the MWC and the WAC are pretty close. The only real advantage that the MWC has is the perceived stability that we lack because we keep posting questions about how we might better have dumped the WAC on a WAC board. :wink:

Joining the MWC won't get us to the BCS any faster and would cost us considerable television exposure -- at least in the short term.

Fourth, if the MWC expands now, it will be Boise and not Fresno who is packing their bags and moving. So hush up before the MWC does something that we won't like.

Yoda out...

I'm not laughing about UC Davis but the WAC isn't expanding in the near future... Well, not unless North Texas wants to reconsider.

Yoda out...

I said what I said because that's Fresno St. position as far as I know. Unless they changed their mind. I don't think they like flying to Louisiana and Hawaii for conference games. Football has some weak spots like Idaho, NMSU, and Utah St. so thats why they would be pumped about leaving. Yes Boise St. has passed us up and be the first to go to MWC. Things are usually cyclical and hopefully Fresno can get on top of the WAC again soon.

Personally, I wouldn't want to see Fresno go. But, I think a real good sign for the WAC is...it had its best year in 2006, and Fresno "wasn't" even a part of it.

No one school does the WAC make.

That's another reason why I really like UC Davis. Whether they're a fourth WAC school in a small circumference, or they're a replacement from Fresno, it all works out for everybody. Nobody loses.